Falling Skies
by 1Ragnarok1
Summary: Remnant is in a downward spiral. On the fourth continent, Atlas and the United Colonies are headed for war. In Vale, mysterious forces plot its downfall. In the Heavens, the Brother Gods battle for dominion over the mortal realm. Team RWBY will have to survive among a world which has increasingly powerful threats, and a man deadlier than anything they have yet to face.
1. Deus Vult

Falling Skies

Chapter 1

Deus Vult

Abkhazia, 1500 hours, July 15th 2014

A convoy of four ERDL splinter camouflage Russian made GAZ Tigr and two Ural-4320 logistic trucks weaved their way around the narrow mountain road overlooking the densely forested valley below. The convoy had crossed the Russian-Abhazian border an hour ago after leaving their start point just beyond the Caucus Mountains in Southern Russia. No incidents had occurred throughout the long and dull journey. The Hot summer air would have been unbearably if not for the armoured car's AC unit. The lead car approached yet another bend in the road between two ridges of the mountain with yet another steep jagged cliff drop off into the dark green forest below. An earsplitting explosion penetrated the lead vehicle, sending it up in flames killing all inside while dust and smoke reached into the air. At the same time a sniper shot took out the driver in the following armoured car. The drivers slumped body collapsing onto his steering wheel sending the car into the cliffside and flipping it onto its side. Killing the mounted gun operator as he was crushed between the car and the cliff.

Not even fifty meters away, perched only a few meters above the road on a rocky ledge obscured by vegetation, a team of four men dressed in Multicam BDUs observed the now immobile convoy as the survivors hurried around grabbing the wounded and coming to terms with the sudden attack upon their lead units. Russian shouts and yells could be heard clearly from their positions.

"Call your targets. We'll take them all at once." Predator One spoke. Dressed in his Multicam BDU, a light earth brown baseball cap adorning his head with his heavy IBA armour and Oakley SI Ballistic M Frame sunglasses.

Predator Two, Three and Four complied. Predator One lined up a bead on one of four Russians who had just pulled one of their comrades from out of the overturned vehicle.

"Targets marked. Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

The Sound of four simultaneous shots rang out as the four Russian's tending to their friend collapsed to the ground.

"Pop Smoke."

All along the Convoy's position, pre-placed smoke grenades detonated in quick succession filling the air with a thick grey smoke that obscured everything. Throwing the survivors into further disarray.

"Secure the Convoy, engage all targets."

Standing up the four men threw their pre-prepared rappel lines down the side of the ledge.

"Close on the target. Hook in, let's go."

Quickly descending the cliff face the four reached the dirt road.

"Move up."

The four-man team quickly advanced upon the nearest vehicle, the one hit by the IED when predator two saw one of the Russians stumble out of the smoke. Two quick shots from his suppressed MK 17 assault rifle. Due to the proximity to the other Russians, the suppressor made very little difference. The Russians started to fire blindly into the smoke in an attempt to hit something. Bullets whizzed through the air around the operators.

Predator Two activated the thermal optics on his Hyperspectral imaging goggles that sat where the usual NVGs would have gone and turned the colourful world into one of the blues, purples, greens, reds, and oranges and yellows depending on their heat signature. Before him appeared fourteen humanoid signatures. There clothes showing up as green to a dim yellow while their exposed flesh became a bright orange or yellow. Aiming his Digital scope at the nearest signature standing next to one of the transport trucks, he tapped the trigger sending a round hurtling at the target, impacting the head. Wasting no time he moved onto the next target as his squamates did the same as they continued their advance through the smoke towards the rear of the convoy. The Echo of Predator teams focused and the efficient fire soon cut down the remaining sporadic fire of the Russians who fell before their machine-like precision.

Predator two noticed one making a run for it trying to reach the safety of whatever he could hide behind. A quick double tap sent the man tumbling to the ground. Two holes in his head.

"All Clear" Predator Two sounded.

"Damn Nomad, as precise as ever." Predator three commented.

"Wouldn't be much of a marksman if I wasn't." Nomad snarkily responded.

"Nomad. Stonewall. Lock it down. Griffin, Predator has secured the convoy." Predator One said over the radio to their handler who was sitting comfortably back in the carrier that had brought them to the region.

" _Copy Predator. Get a feed on the cargo, we'll verify from here."_

"Roger, Form up on me." Predator One ordered. By now the smoke had begun to clear as a result of the cool calm mountain breeze with rays of sunshine starting to penetrate the smokescreen as well as little gaps acting as windows to the surrounding view of forest and mountains.

"Eyes up I don't want any surprises. Nomad, check the truck, if the package isn't here we'll move on to the other."

"Rodger." Nomad activated the flashlight on the left rail of his gun as the back panel was unclasped from the truck. Making a squeaking noise that suggested it need some oil. Lifting himself up into the rear of the truck his torch illuminated various crates of various shapes and sizes as well as a few barrels. His eyes immediately landed on the open crate with a warhead of some kind in it with two wires leading below it. The image was re-laid back to Griffin via his helmet camera.

"Griffin, you reading this?" Nomad asked as he walked over to the side of it and looking at it from different angles.

" _Roger. We're capturing. We'll do a comparison to be sure but it's looking good."_ Came over Nomad's headset as he slung his rifle over his back.

"Copy that." Nomad was making his way out the back of the truck when a beeping and vibrating noise was heard coming from a small panel on the side of the crate holding the warhead.

"What the hell." An edge of worry crept into his voice. He quickly and carefully opened the panel up to reveal a timer and a small plastic charge was the source of the noise.

" _Predator get out of there!"_

"Bomb! Get clear! Get Clear! Move!" Nomad yelled as he scrambled out of the truck and jumped off the back. Stonewall would have been standing outback was frozen for a second before turning and running as fast as he could after Nomad. Predator One and Four were already ahead of them both as they all beelined for the turn the convoy had come from.

"Run! Go, Go, Go, Go!" Nomad Looked behind him as they neared the bend in the road and saw Stonewall passing the rear two armoured cars. As soon as Stonewall had passed them, the warhead detonated. The Shockwave and dust cloud overtook Stonewall obscuring him from view as well as the two cars. Nomad felt himself lifted off his feet and tossed around by the force of the explosion. He hit and rolled along the ground as his hands tried to claw onto the dirt road to stop his movement. He felt his lower body suddenly drop as it found the cliff as his hands finally killed his momentum. An armoured car toppled over the cliff next to him as he watched it plunge into the darkness? below.

" _Predator Respond!"_

The world above him on the cliff when he managed to get both his elbows on the road was light in an orange glow from the fires and cinders in the air. Debris were strewn all over the road. Once again smoke covered the narrow dirt road. Nomad could see Stonewall, he had a piece of metal from one of the cars impaling his back through his lung and he wasn't moving. He could see the rest of his unit either. Nomad let out a cry of pain as he felt a burning sensation of his left arm. A Napalm-like substance had made contact with his exposed his skin where he had rolled up his Crye combat shirt. The ? was filled with this burning like substance as well, it clung to everything it touched. He started to pat it down with his other arm but that only spread it further down his arm to his wrist which wasn't covered by his Kevlar gloves. He grunted in pain from the now multiple burning sensations along his arm and he became more vocal after he felt new ones on his right arm. The substance eating away at his flesh? with the extremities, a burning yellow with the rest of the expanding would a glowing orange. He cries became louder out of a mix of pain and determination as he started to slip off the roadside cliff as he desperately struggled to find purchase to no avail. His left hand managed to briefly hold himself on the edge as his right hand fell to his side.

" _Scramble the recovery team! I've got men down in the field!... My whole team's down…_ _"_

With one final yell, Nomad's hand lost its grip on the cliff and he began to plummet the large fall into the forest below.

A strange _thum_ noise filled his hears and everything seemed to stop and freeze in time. Or rather, everything did freeze. He couldn't move his body in any way, only his eyes. He could see the grains of dirt, the cinders and the Napalm substance in the air around him. He could see the cliff from where he fell and the smoke in the air. An and if he strained his eyes he could see the tips of the tall and ancient pine trees. As well as a flock of seven birds.

 _Huh, what the hell is going on? Am I dead?_

 _ **This is getting very tiresome. Human's think they're all-knowing. But they've lost sight of what's right and what's wrong. They think the laws of the universe don't apply to them anymore.**_ Each sentence was said by a different bird. Nomad felt as though they were looking at him when they spoke.

 _What is happening? Is this some… death induced…_ _vision?_

 _ **Human's no longer empathise with others. And they have renounced their faith in their almighty creator.**_

 _Our creator?_

 _ **You heard the bird.**_

 _You're asking me to believe that God. As an entity. Not only exists but also chose to freeze time, at the exact moment I died and is now talking to me through a flock of birds?_

 _ **That's correct.**_

 _Impossible. This is some kind of near-death hallucination. I'm a rational and logical person and believe in logic and reason, not in God's existence._

 _ **What.**_ All the Birds said at once.

 _Furthermore, even if you are God why should I trust you, aren't God and the Devil supposed to inhabit the spiritual world. Hypothetically if God did exist, then I doubt he would do anything this absurd and fucked up to get a point across. So, you must be something else._

 _ **Like the Devil?**_

 _Or Perhaps something similar. Forgive me for the lack of creativity, but I think I'll call you being X._

 _ **Have you no respect of the Divine, was it not I who laid out the basis of all morality, the Abrahamic laws?**_

 _The ten commandments right. I'd like you to consider that not all of mankind follows the Abrahamic beliefs. And besides, I was born into a world blessed with a culture of science and raised in a country blessed with an extraordinary moral sense, even for this world, as a biologically and sociologically a military man trained and honed for combat with the best support and equipment. What need have I for a God?_

 _ **As the being in charge of reincarnation I must abide by strict rules, but for you, I will make an exception.**_

 _Reincarnation, you mean after we die we are reincarnated and re-born?_

 _ **Either into heaven, hell or back on Earth depending on how you have lived and your faith. Not that is no longer your concern I'm afraid.**_

 _Wait a minute are you not aware of the principle of full disclosure, and if you are God shouldn't you abide by your own rules and avoid spontaneous and impulsive decisions?_

 _ **I manage over seven billion people on this planet and it's exhaustingly over-working having to reincarnate non-believers.**_

 _They say a sign of over-working is a lack of organisation or a flawed work model_ _ **.**_ Nomad unwisely quipped. _You failed to sufficiently analyse your own creation's needs. Of course, there's no faith in a world of advanced science where almost everyone's core needs are met. Nowadays you only belong to the week and desperate who look for someone to cling to when times get hard. A successful, hardworking person would never need you._

 _ **So you're saying you have no faith because all your needs are met. You have a good social class and you've never been in dire straits until now. So what if I placed you in a situation where those things weren't present, into dire straits. Do you think then? Your faith would. Be awakened in me?**_

 _Well, technically, but I think your jumping to conclusions about me… let's not be hasty now. I don't want to break any rules about reincarnation or rebirth or whatever you said._

The Birds all spoke as one again, " _ **Try to survive as long as you can in this new world. But remember, if you die before a set time there will be no more further reincarnations for you. Go.**_

 _Wait? What?_ Another _thum_ filled his ears as he once again heard his scream from his fall from the top of the cliff as he resumed his fall before impacting the earth and rock below him.

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

"Ah, Mr Galster If you'll follow me please." It was a woman of indiscernible age, though if he had to guess he would say somewhere around late twenties or earlier thirties, with blonde hair and a stern expression that screamed disciplinarian. One arm was held at her side, pinning a number of books to her hip, while her other hand held what appeared to be a riding crop. Michael bit back the urge to comment on that seeing as he needed to make a good first impression with his new co-workers.

"Of Course Miss…?"

"Glynda Goodwitch, as Ozpin has informed you I am the deputy headmistress," She explained as they walked through the school hall. There was about a week before the students returned from their mid-term break and as such the school was eerily quite for a place that was probably very noisy. "You have the week to become acquainted with the school's layout and facilities, I assume that you have prepared the necessary materials required for the course you will teach?"

"I have, though there are a few activities and practices I want to run by Ozpin first. I can teach them theory, history and the basics but I will need to make them practice using the materials I teach in order to effective."

"The headmaster would be more than willing to accommodate provided the students aren't put in unnecessary danger or put the school over budget."

"Understood. What class sizes should I expect?"

"The course will be mandatory for fourth years but if students take it before their fourth year then they don't have to in their own fourth year."

Michael and Glynda rounded a corner where Glynda abruptly stopped.

"Here we are, this where you'll be teaching during your time at Beacon," She gestured toward the door. "Inside you'll find the tag that identifies you as a teacher at Beacon and your work scroll. If you have any more questions feel free to ask any other members of staff."

"Thank you, I'll get my materials sorted then put my things in my room then." Glynda nodded. She spun on her heel and walked away. Opening the door, Michael stepped into the classroom where he would be teaching. Looking at the room he saw a large chestnut brown wooden desk at the front with rows of tiered seats leading up toward the back of the classroom. There were two windows on the left side of the room that looked out over the city of Vale. He set down the bag he had all his materials in next to the swivel chair. Sitting down in the Chair, he swivelled round to gaze over the classroom. A smirk forming on his face.

 _Well Being X, looks like this lowly weak mortal still has no need of you._

* * *

 **Blake Belladonna**

"Hurry up, we're going to be late!" Ruby said vanishing in a flurry of rose petals as she activated her semblance as the rest of her team hurried behind her.

"Remind me again why we are taking this optional course, I have better uses for my Monday afternoon," Yang complained as she chased after her sister.

"Because we won't have to take it in our final year and it opens up more possibilities for the mission we get to do at the end of the term," Weiss answered as the rounded the last corner before the classroom. Blake could see Ruby waiting outside the door to the classroom.

"Come on, hurry!" Ruby opened the door as they reached her and they all entered the classroom together. The classroom wasn't much different from others in Beacon. Looking where the students were seated she noticed that most were fourth years. She didn't see any third years and the only second years were team CFVY. She also saw JNPR was there as well.

"Ah glad to see you finally made it. After you had five minutes to get here. Try to be more punctual in future." A condescending voice admonished.

 _No. no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no. no._ Blake's eyes fixed upon the teacher. _No, he can't be here. WHY is he here, he shouldn't be here._

"Is there a problem?" The Professor asked her.

"No Sir," Blake answered quickly as she quickly hurried off to where the rest of her team had seated themselves.

"So.," Yang said to her as she sat down.

"So… what?"

"Starring at the professor are we," Yang said suggestively.

"It's not like that Yang," Blake responded.

"Just teasing Blakey, no need to be defensive."

"Now then, seeing as we're _finally_ all here, I'll introduce myself. I'm former Marine Captain and CEO of The Aegis Corporation Private Military Branch as well as the current heir of the Aegis Corporation, Michael Galster. I'm here to teach you the new Military Studies course. This course as you know will teach how wars are fought, won, lost and justified, as well as the tactics and strategies used in them all the way from the first war in the waring states period up to modern counterinsurgency against the White Fang."

"Now this course was demanded by the remaining military of Vale and of other militaries due to the rise in incidents between huntsmen and armed forces working together in the field. Mainly with the rise of hostage situations with the White Fang. You newer huntsmen have a tendency to ignore procedure and the lessons learned by the armed forces. As a result, a lot of unnecessary deaths have occurred. As a result, it is now mandatory for all huntsmen to at some point take this course."

The holo-disk hummed blue as it started to boot up. The professor set it on the floor in front of him, ready to activate it at a moment's notice. "I'm not surprised to be honest if none of you has much knowledge of this stuff. Most of you have lived very stable lives in the kingdoms. Only a few if any will know just how detailed military operations can be."

He paced around the classroom and picked up his Scroll, which would relay documents and pictures he would show to the class. "Which is why I am here. The Council has decided to create the Military Studies class here, and specifically assigned me at this position."

"When you all leave this class over the course of your stay at Beacon, you will have your heads brimming with every single tactic and method the military uses. If you don't, well I may have to beat it into you until you do."

The brunette scanned the classroom, which erupted into whispers. "And that means from now on, we will operate as a smaller version of the military," he yelled, "You refer to me as Professor Galster or Captain Galster. Whichever is better for you."

The holo-disk activated, covering the room with complex holograms and several video feeds. The class oohed and awed, sending a small smile on Professor Galster's face.

"Now then…" The Professor swiped on his Scroll, revealing a PDF file of notes he was about to lecture on. "Class is in session. A side note before I begin the first lecture, this course will heavily revolve around independent study where you will do the majority of the work of this course. I will be available should you need any tutoring or need any questions answered. We'll start today by going over the history of warfare in Remnant."

"The Warring States period saw the largest amount of fighting on remnant before the Great War or World War as I call it. The Warring States period saw the rise and domination of the world by the four kingdoms we see today. The use of large bodies of Infantry foot soldiers with huntsmen or Calvary as shock troops developed during this time. However, the armies of the day only used between 10,000 men to 100,000 men depending on the size of their respective kingdom and casualties never quite reached anything above 20,000 at worst. That all changed with the discovery of dust. With dust, the first firearms were created. Mass wave tactics and rank and file tactics dominated the next two hundred years until the world arrived at what it nearly looks like today. During that time there weren't any large or wide-scale wars. The presences of the Grimm was ever increasing but was manageable to the large militaries of each kingdom." With each point he would swipe his scroll with a different image would appear of the hologram with the key points bullet-pointed next it. On it the hologram there were images of knights, archers, riflemen, horsemen and paintings of early huntsmen.

"Now I know many of you don't want me to go on and on about history but history in my mind is one of the most important subjects to study as it shows us why things have happened the way they have and how tactics and strategies have developed over the years. Before the Great War, both humanity and the Faunus were fractured and used very basic tactics and strategies. I want you to turn to page 34 in chapter 1 of your textbooks." Blake like everyone else opened the textbook on their desk Titled _The Complete Military History of Remnant_ _by Colonel J. Irons_. Opening the book to the specified page Blake saw it was on the Great War and Faunas Rights Revolution _,_ mainly on the White Fang's militancy.

"Why would people even fight each other? There are bigger problems out there. Like Grimm and bag guys." Blake heard Ruby mutter to Yang. Due to experience, Blake couldn't agree more.

"An astute question miss Rose, why do we fight each other with the threat of the Grimm hanging above us?"

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

"I'll tell you why. Now we are experiencing a time of peace and live in relative harmony, all fighting together against the forces of Grimm. Fighting each other is a waste of time. So why do we still fight each other? Because, no matter the era, humanity, and the Faunus, will always find a way to fight again."

Michael noticed a few students bristle, likely the idealists and optimists. "What do you mean? Once all the Grimm are dead and there are no more threats, we should be living in peace again! There are no more reasons to fight anymore!" Michael noticed a rabbit Faunus, a miss Scarlantia, had spoken up

"Yes, that would be ideal. Sadly, that is never the case. Remember what happened with the Faunus? The Faunus Rights Revolution? Humans and Faunus fought, even with the looming threat of Grimm. People will always find a way to wage war with one another. No matter how peaceful the era." _I could point to literally any war in history from Earth as they were fought for literally any reason imaginable. Revenge, ethnicity, religion, greed, money and resources, conquest, hell there were two wars fought over the sale of opium._

It was the turn of miss Belladonna to raise her hand. "You don't know that. Maybe when we finally kill all the Grimm things will be different."

Every single war that occurred in Earth's history flashed through Michael's mind. All labelled at the time to be the 'War to end all wars'. Earth's own great war had lasted four years compared the ten on remnant and that had caused eighteen million dead and twenty-three million wounded, at that was looking at just the soldiers, airmen and seamen fighting the war, not even looking at a civilian and economic loss using the same tactics and similar technology. In contrast Remnant's Great War lasted ten years and only five million were lost with nine million wounded. The people of Remnant had no idea about the implications of their own humanity. Humans are naturally born to find differences and fight. It was just how they were. Hell, before he died, there was major fighting and bloodshed in the Middle East.

"That may be so. But problems like racism and hostile relations and inequalities of any kind between anyone will always spark fighting, with or without Grimm. Enough of this. We need to get back to the lecture. If any of you wish to discuss this matter further you can find me either in here or in my office after class."

"In real life, strategies are not enough to win a fight. Just relying on tactics alone will not allow you to succeed. There are two things that are required to win a war. Have well trained and equipped troops. And second, Learn about their art."

It didn't surprise him that the students began to whisper to one another with the mention of his last point. _Okay Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, let's see how much of your knowledge I retain._

Yang almost smirked. "Art?" she whispered to her teammates. "This is a military class, not some third-grade painting program."

Michael straightened. "Silence!"

The class shut up.

"If you want to talk you will raise your hand? Do not force me to enforce some punishments in this class. While I may not be able to use punishments regularly used in the military, I still have very fitting ones that were passed by the Council."

Michael paced around the class, making sure to make eye contact with everyone there. "Learn about the art, class. When you understand an enemy's art, their philosophy and culture, you understand how they think. When you understand how they think, you understand the enemy. If you know yourself but not your enemy, then for every victory you gain you will also suffer a defeat. If you know yourself and know your enemy, then in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. If you know neither yourself and nor your enemy, you will succumb in every battle." _It is a Godsend to have read Sun Tzu's Art of War and be able to quote it._

The saying was similar to the one used in the Atlas Military officer school. To understand the enemy, you must first understand who they were and what they stood for. That rule applied for every single being on this planet. The White Fang hated, though the word hated seemed tame when describing how the white fang felt toward humans; they preached about the eradication of the human race sometimes. And understanding that would help him and The Aegis Corporation PMC branch in fighting against them now and in the future. Decrease the discrimination of the Faunus, you remove a large chunk of the recruiting base of the White Fang.

"Understand?" Michael said as he gazed across the sea of heads.

The students nodded, and she swore she heard somebody say, "Yes Sir" in the back row somewhere.

"Good. Now back to the subject at hand. This year, I will be teaching offensive and defensive strategies throughout the course of the two semesters we have. The first term will be offensive and second will be defensive. I advise you all take extensive notes for each of them, as there will be a large exam at the end of each term."

The Michael pulled up the next file he had on his Scroll. "Today we're only going to cover three to get the hang of things."

Most of the class pulled out their notebooks while some secretly took out their Scrolls to photograph the notes. Personally, he didn't care what they did. As long as they had the notes somewhere on their person was good enough for him. The slackers that didn't pay attention would pay for it. Some of them would pay for it very soon.

"First of the three strategies we will be learning today is the concept of Air Superiority. The Aegis Corporation PMC branch or as you know them, Aegis Defense Services, excels at this, with state of the art aircraft and weaponry. A single Sidewinder missile is enough to take down a fully grown Nevermore."

To demonstrate, He pulled up a video of a test run of such in a recent attack against a nest of Nevermores straying too close to the Corporation's island which was at this point a pseudo-nation. He had to be cautious as to what he showed as a lot of the Aegis Defense Services capabilities were unknown to Remnant, all being based on the weapons, vehicles and tactics of his world.

The class observed as an F-14 Tomcat blasted across the sky, heading closer to a screeching black object. They heard the speakers on the disk humming as the sound of the targeting system made the increasing closer together beeping noise as the missile attained a lock on the target. Once the Beeps had merged into one, continues beep the missile fired. The overgrown bird had barely enough time to squawk as the missile tore through its body, blowing it into fine dust.

Michael closed the file as students started to write down notes. "Now when an enemy has no chance of taking to the air, they become stranded. The main mode of transferring supplies to them is by air. And when we take that away, it is only a matter of time before they are without resources. When talking about air combat, there are two terms I want you to be familiar with, Air Superiority, when you have the advantage in the air, and Air Supremacy, when you have undisputed control of the air. The latter is the goal of any air force in warfare, with it you can systematically destroy the enemy's capability to wage war by targeting their forces, infrastructure, defences and political and economic targets. You can stop logistical and troop movements on the ground while being able to freely move your own." The allies use of airpower in World War Two and the wars in Vietnam and the Middle East came to mind, where air power was used to devastating effect.

He chuckled. "God knows how many times I have seen this used in the military."

"Next is a blockade. This is similar to air superiority, except it mainly takes place on the ground and sea. This was used several times in the Great War when Atlas wanted to choke the supply of resources from smaller islands surrounding the kingdoms. Vale used it to an extent also."

To emphasise, Michael pulled up several pictures of ships and ground troops surrounding a large area, attacking any supply ship that came close.

"Now there are several different steps to blockade. It isn't simply surrounding the enemy with as many soldiers as you can. It is far more complex than that. You need to read the enemy. Realistically, this would take several weeks or even months of careful spying or with some idea of how you would go about before you get there well in advance. For example, if you choose the wrong day to a blockade, you can expect to be taken down by reinforcements who were scheduled to come by that exact same day. Come when the enemy has a moderate amount of supplies. Build up from there and then you'll be strong enough to stop reinforcements."

Miss Nikos raised her hand. "Professor, how exactly is this different from siege warfare?"

Michael pointed at her with approval. "Very good question, Miss Nikos. Not many people would have caught onto that."

Pyrrha smiled slightly. It was always nice to get praise, although she was far too modest to admit it.

"And to answer your question, blockades cannot be confused with siege warfare, as blockading is usually directed at a region or kingdom, rather than being directed at a castle or a fort. There are many different ways of doing this, on land, it is ground troop supported by all elements forming a cordon around a target area, and navally there are two. Though there is one more ethical than the other. The first is the traditional sense, large ships, either surface fleets or airborne fleets form a blockade of an area and just prevent anything from entering, this has been the only use of naval blockade in history so far, but there is a second available only to the Aegis Defense Services. Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. Submarines are able to stay underwater for long periods of time undetected, this allows them to avoid combat with military vessels and hit purely civilian targets, mainly trade ships. In this way, you blockade a Kingdom without needing to engage the enemy's fleet if it's stronger than your own."

He noticed Miss Rose was frantically scribbling down notes as he droned on. He could see from the frown on her face she didn't particularly like this class so far. It was too likely too much of an assault on her ideals. War was bad. But she did need to pass this class. And they did have to work with military branches at some point in life, so what choice did she have.

"And lastly is Flank Attack. This is one of the most powerful strategies by far. Get it right, and you'll go down in history as one of the great military leaders in history, get it wrong or to fail to complete it. Well… the results vary. But they are usually aren't pretty."

"Flank attack in military terms refers to the attempt to encircle and completely destroy as much of the enemy force as possible with the idea of wiping it out completely. This goes hand in hand with the deceptive battleplan that we'll go into later. There are a few examples of it in history, During the Vacuo campaign when Vale forces arrived to help Vacuo against the invading Mistral Forces. General Nicholas Arc led the Vale forces. He started by making the Mistralians think the main offensive would come through the desert and pin them against the coast as they had done to the Vacuoan army. Then using various electronic and physical measures he deceived the Mistralian forces to believing what they expected while planning a right hook up their desert flank. While an attack would come from the left coastal flank it was not the main focus of the offensive."

"The initial start of the Operation was a success, the right flank forces broke through and pushed all the way to the first of the two ports in western Vacuo. His follow-through was lacklustre. The riskiest part of any Flank attack battleplan, the closure of the encirclement. General Arc's forces had managed to nearly encircle the entire army of Mistral in Vacuo and were on the cusp of cutting off its only escape route. However, when linking two separate spearheads you run the risk of blue on blue fire or friendly fire as you know it. This caused the general to become overly cautious and slowly advance his forces on the last port, much to his field commanders dismay, as a result, Mistral was able to save most of the army it sent and allowed the war to be prolonged for another two years."

He paced around the classroom. "If this had succeeded, however, Mistral would have been open to an assault from its Eastern Coast. And the second front in Mistral could have ended the war sooner and prevent two more years of fighting."

Michael looked down at his scroll. _Twenty-five to four already, better wrap this up then._

"That concludes everything we'll cover in today's lesson. Your first assignment from me will be to research the three strategies I talked about today. You will write up who used them, when were they used, how they were carried out and how effective they were, I expect at least three pages at an absolute minimum. If any of you require resources on your scroll you can find the app, Military Studies. On it, I have placed scholarly articles, essays, papers, firsthand accounts from the lowliest private to the highest general. As well as good documentaries and books. I also added clips and videos of actual combat, training and use of weapons and vehicles. You can choose to either use or ignore this as you please. But something you will learn whether you fail or pass this class is to use every single resource at your disposal to succeed. This assignment _will_ be expected to be handed in on our Friday lesson. If any of you have any questions pertaining to this course either see me after class or come find me, I'll be in my office which is in the second-year dorms third floor. If no one has any questions, the class is dismissed."

Michael expected the entire class to leave, they still had three minutes until the bell went, however, one student had their hand raised.

"Yes, you at the back?"

"Sir, will there be any trips this year."

"Honestly. I'd like to take you all to Vacuo where you could get some practical experience but seeing as cleanup of the deposed White Fang government from a couple years ago is still ongoing and the region is hardly stable, I doubt the headmaster would allow such a trip. And I doubt any of you would like to tour a military installation and have things pointed out to you like toddlers, so at this current time, no. There aren't any school trips scheduled but that may change. If there are no further questions you all are dismissed."

With that, the class began to shuffle out the door to their last lesson of the day. Now he had to prepare to deliver the same lesson twice tomorrow for the remainder of the fourth years and a handful of third years. After he had done that he had paperwork to get back to.

"Professor?"

"Hmmn?" Michael looked up to see Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. He'd met her older sister Winter while in the Vale Marine Corps. She was frosty at first but eventually, he got past that and they'd formed a professional relationship, but the rivalry between their respective militaries remained. "Yes miss Schness?"

"Professor, you said you were the CEO of Aegis Defense Services Branch."

"I did."

"Then how come you are teaching here at Beacon, don't you have a company to run?" He noted the slightly accusatory tone mixed in with some curiosity.

"As you are aware I'm sure, the Vale Council in its _infinite wisdom,_ " the sarcasm in his voice was palpable, "Decided to over the years decrease the budget for all the armed forces of Vale. That led to downsizing the Vale Airforce, Army and Navy and a year and a bit ago the disbandment of the Vale Marines. Now that inevitably put a lot of people out of work as you can imagine. At the time due to my adoptive family, I was granted a high position in the Aegis Corporation by my adoptive Grandfather, who had been grooming his grandchildren to take over the company. The rise of organised bandits, the militancy of White Fang and increased presence of Grimm created problems with international trade, and the remaining forces of Vale and the other kingdoms bar Atlas were unable to effectively protect the various trade routes and logistic capabilities of all the kingdoms." Wiess nodded as she followed along.

"And as a businessman, I saw an opportunity. I approached every single former soldier, airman, marine and seaman who was left without a job because of the council and offered them a job. Mercenary Companies have been technically illegal since the great war though the rule has never been enforced due to there not being any large-scale mercenary companies anymore. So I created the Aegis Defense Services, the world's first official Private Military Company. Now the Marines had been completely disbanded. So when most accepted the offer I just had everyone assume their previous role within the Aegis Defense Services. The former soldiers were combined with them and using the Air and Navy personnel we created our own Navy and Airforce, we then extended offers to former servicemen and servicewomen in the other kingdoms. Then we offered our services in protecting what the military couldn't. And as the command structure is in place it doesn't require me to constantly micromanage it. I have Generals, chiefs of Staff, Commanders, Admirals, Colonels who do that for me. I just approve budgets and sign off on contracts."

"So you're saying you're not needed to run the company, just as a figurehead who oversees everything. That doesn't seem very responsible. Sir" She quickly added.

"So would taking someone who knew nothing about fighting Grimm and throwing them into a forest full of them and telling them to eradicate any Grimm found. I know how to lead squads and platoons, I know how to run a business model like the one I have. I don't know how to lead an entire army, I have neither the training nor experience to do so. I allow people who know what they're doing and know how to do it run it independently of me, they still have to inform me of what they're doing and how it financially affects the company. It just means that my evenings are spent looking over documents rather than having time off like most the other Professors at Beacon. Besides, the council offered the job here and my Grandfather, as I am sure your father told you to, told me to accept the position for a time to establish connections with huntsmen."

"Thank for explaining that Sir. I won't take up any more of your time."

* * *

Michael was sipping his tea as he read the latest report on the Financial gains of the last quarter after he'd done that he had to look over the latest requests from the Research and Development department. His dorm and office weren't particularly big. A single bed that could fit two people if absolutely necessary was squeezed into the right corner of the room next to the window, which the size of which left him far to exposed to sniper fire should they be positioned on the Fourth year dorm only a hundred or so meters away. He had a small desk where he kept loose odds and ends. A wardrobe was stuffed on the opposite side of the room with the entry to the bathroom consisting of a shower, sink and toilette. Exiting there one would find themselves in the combination of office and kitchen. A desk where he could mark work and go over paperwork. There was also the swivel chair used in conjunction with the desk and small brown leather chair and sofa. The kitchen wasn't anything special, a few draws, cupboards, a fridge freezer but nothing that would allow you to cook hot meals.

He hadn't brought much with him. His semblance, which had been unlocked along with his aura by _Being X_ in a useless attempt to be praised, his semblance took care of storing clothing for him as well as his weapons. He had mainly brought paperwork, his work laptop and materials for his class. Not being a sentimental person, favouring logic and reason over emotion, he was sentimental over a few things. The exceptions being the Photo of him and his unit in the VMC which showed him kneeled in the first row, wearing his desert combat gear, arms over the two buddies next to him surrounded by forty other fellow Marines, all dressed like him with smiles that matched his own. The other was the Photo of his Adoptive Grandfather Leonard Underwood, who essentially ran the Aegis Corporation, shaking his hand, proud smile on his face. It was the day Michael had been made CEO of the Paramilitary Branch of the company. The last item was the ring he wore on his right hand. It was an onyx black with golden carvings forming an intricate pattern with a gold oval on the crown which highlighted the blue sapphire stone. It was given to him when he was informed he would become the heir to the Corporation. Each represented a new highpoint in his life, each achieved without the help of that pretend God, Being X.

He felt his phone, _scroll_ he mentally corrected himself, buzz in his pocket. A transition from being from Earth in this new world with new yet similar technology meant similar objects had different names. Taking the scroll from his pocket he saw it was from Glynda.

 _Dear Prof. Galster_

 _The Headmaster would like to see at your earliest convenience, tonight would be preferable._

 _Prof. Goodwitch_

Sighing he stood up and started to make his way to the headmaster's office. Better to see what Ozpin wanted sooner rather than later.

 _What could Ozpin want, I've been here a week and taught a single lesson. So unless that one lesson was a complete dumpster fire I shouldn't be in trouble. Unless there's an ulterior motive to it. No. think logically. You've broken no rules or laws while at Beacon, one lesson unless it was impossible? shit would get you fired on your first day. So it must be something else. Heir to the Aegis Corporation? No, Beacon has a large budget from the Council, not mentioning the large donations the school got from donors and fundraisers. Weiss Schnee is also an heiress. I haven't caught wind of Ozpin talking to her, so that's not it. CEO of Aegis Defense Services? A definite possibility, only large scale PMC in the world and functions with the same scale and ability as any Kingdom's military. Could he be interested in hiring us? But what would he need us for? Security? What would he need security for, a school for huntsmen and all? So what? What could he want? Unless it's something to do with me running the said military. If it wasn't for the fact I have no concrete way of dealing with Cinder I would be free to operate as I wish…. Unless Ozpin might know about Cinder. And If he's a potential enemy of Cinder… the enemy of my enemy is my friend…._

Before he noticed he had reached the elevator at the base of the Beacon Spire where Ozpin's office was situated at the top off. The elevator journey wasn't anything amazing. Just a regular lift. For some reason, he expected something more… grand. A little ding chimed signalling the lift had reached its destination. The doors opened to reveal the headmaster's office. A large spacious room with an expensive looking coffee machine to one side. A large wooden desk sat at the end of the room by the window that looked beyond the academy, over Vale and out to the horizon on the sea. Ozpin sat in his chair gazing upon the view.

"Headmaster, you asked for me." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Ahh, Mr Galster, glad you could make it on just short notice, I hope you weren't doing anything too important?" _Just get the small talk done, then you can find out what he wants._

"Nothing that important, just some paperwork that needed to be sorted before it stacked up."

"I know that feeling," Ozpin responded before he took a sip of his coffee. Michael didn't much like coffee, being more of a tea man himself.

"Is there a reason you called me here. I doubt it is just for a social call." Michael said deciding to get to the point, subtlety only got you so far in life.

"I see you're a man who appreciates directness, then I'll be straight forward. There are two reasons I called you here. Firstly, how has your first-day teaching been?"

Michael was momentarily taken back by the question, not fully expecting it but recovered quickly. Hopefully before Ozpin noticed though he doubted the sagely man wouldn't have.

"Wasn't as bad as I was expecting to be honest. Students were quiet, seemed ready to learn. But most surprisingly the time went past rather quickly." He answered honestly. _But that's not the question you want to ask Ozpin. Is it?_

"But now, more importantly, I want to know why your little private army has become more… active, lately." Michael almost missed it, the dangerous edge to the end of Ozpin's question. It was subtle, really subtle. But Michael hadn't gotten as far as he had by being inattentive.

 _I can't answer completely truthfully because that would sign my own death certificate, Ozpin would not hesitate to kill or capture me if he knew the truth, but I can't lie either as that would have the same effect, only it would end more subtly. So I can't lie or be truthful, then I'll give enough truth to stay his hand without lying at all. I'm in no position to do otherwise. I also don't know how much he knows as well. Shit. He has the upper hand and he knows it. Well then Ozpin, let's see how well you play the long game._

"As you know both the men, women and I of that 'private army' don't particularly care for our former kingdom. Especially as they seem to be ignoring that one group that so many of us died to stop. The doing of such being the action of a bunch of, fucking retards." He made sure to say the last two words slowly and clearly in a condescending manner.

"As such we aren't particularly to happy about that. As I'm sure you can imagine," His words laced with a tone that screamed suppressed annoyance, "as such we've decided to take matters into our own hands as we seem to be the _only ones who want to do something_ to stop the White Fang. As such," His voice changed from a mocking one that would've made an old squadmate proud to a more serious one, "We've had our intelligence and cyber warfare division gather as much intel on White Fang cells, base locations, supply depots, assets, supply lines, businessmen and politicians who either work for them or are in their pocket as well as any other perceivable target that we could possibly hit that would hurt the White Fang by air, sea or land. I had planned for operations in Mistral, which would be the focus, as well as Vacuo and Vale. Going to Atlas would be seen as an act of war and I'm not touching Menagerie with an infinitely long pole."

"So you're saying that your intentions are to purely attack the White Fang. Continuing the spiral of violence and bloodshed between Human and Faunus."

"You do realise that I employ Faunus and Humans equally right?" Which came out more mockingly than he intended to, "and you make it sound like I'm preparing to launch a pre-emptive strike upon the four kingdoms. I'm many things, but suicidal is not one of them. I'm not about to fight something I can't win."

"And how would you go about dealing with these targets you've identified?"

"The respective governments would be informed moments before the operations took place as to ensure that no leaks will warn the White Fang. I all ready have permission to move our forces within the Kingdoms bar Atlas as I provide security for various assets all over the world. We are planning on having our forces positioned within a month when we will launch the synchronised assault," _Now to extend the hook_ , "Should their leader be found then Operation Queen-slayer would be put into effect where _the queen_ would be hunted down and executed. But for more information on that, absolute privacy and confidentiality would have to be assured. I assume that's everything you wanted to ask Headmaster?"

"Yes, thank you. This conversation has proved very illuminating. I hope you have the most pleasant experience teaching at our fine academy." With that cue, Michael turned and exited the office.

 _When both options are terrible, play both sides until a victor emerges._

* * *

 **Ozpin**

Ozpin sighed as he sat down and took another swig of his coffee. Michael Galster was an enigma. After Qrow had broken into the Aegis Corporations head office. A feat that Impressed even him. A dangerous fact emerged. The queen had approached the Corporation, specifically Michael. For what purpose was still unclear and the outcome of said meeting was even more obscured. Seeing as young Michael was still breathing that meant he had likely sided with the queen. But if Michaels' talk of this, operation Queen-slayer, was any indication as well as his emphasis on how confidential it needed to be. It was likely he either wanted an out or never truly joined the Queen. Either way, he was at Beacon, where he could be monitored far more easily than out on small soon to be island nation in the middle of the sea between Vale, Mistral and Vacuo. Michael was a pawn, and Ozpin suspected he knew it. But a pawn was not to be underestimated, it could hold down an area of the board, be sacrificed for the greater good, but most importantly, if it reached the enemies side of the board, it could become whatever piece it wanted to be. The pawn was a powerful piece, and Ozpin knew it.

"So does that bestow any peace of mind upon you old friend?" Ozpin spoke to the man who'd been listening upon the recent conversation.

"Some. But it feels like he's not being entirely straight forward with us either." General Ironwood of the Atlas Military and Headmaster of the Atlas Huntsmen Academy spoke.

"So it wasn't just me then. There's another reason behind Aegis's recent activity. He wasn't lying when he said they were going to deal with the White Fang, which I admit isn't an entirely wrong thing to do even if I don't agree with the method. But he's here so we can keep an eye on him."

"I still suggest caution, the less patriotic and more realistic of my analysts have their doubts as to an easy victory of Atlas over Aegis. Their technology and way of warfare, as well as their use of non-dust based energy sources, makes them a wildcard that we've never faced."

"A wildcard that would be most useful if it were to be in our hand."

* * *

 **A/N: This story was based on a conversation I had with a friend after rewatching volume three and discussing how modern governments would have reacted to the White Fang based upon the lessons learned in the War on Terror. So the conversation evolved into why the White Fang was able to operate the way it did seemingly left unchecked by the Kingdoms, which other than Atlas seemed to have no military forces other than Huntsmen. While RWBY is meant to be a show about cute girls with weapons that are also guns and I'm probably taking it too seriously and over analysing it, I still felt the urge to write about a group that actually will do something about the White Fang. I had also been watching House of Cards and loved the Character of Frank Underwood (despite the allegations against Kevin Spacey he still is an amazing actor). So, I thought why not combine Frank Underwood's ruthless pragmatism, a few ideas from Youjo Senki and combine them with a person who has military experience, drop them into RWBY, place them somewhere they can affect the White Fang and the world in a significant way and see where things lead.**

 **Cover art is not my own, the original image can be found here** **at Deviantart by MarcWasHere titled Special Operations Aussie**


	2. Novo Mundo

Falling Skies

Chapter 2

Novo Mundo

 **Michael Galster**

Black was all he saw in every direction. After death, Michael was surrounded by darkness. Oddly Being X, the so-called God, hadn't spoken to him. He remembered falling and the painful impact of trees and the stone he had no doubt his body had splattered over back on Earth. A rather painful memory. He now found himself suspended if that was the correct term to use, in total darkness that had a warm, wet feeling to it. He tried to move his arms and legs but they felt trapped and unresponsive, and any movement was sudden and jerky, as though the muscles in his limbs were underdeveloped or not working properly.

After what he believed to have been minutes, or even hours, Michael saw something. It almost looked like a tiny bit of light was shining through a sphere.

The light revealed a curve in the darkness. But just as quickly as the light appeared, something happened. No longer did Michael feel like he was floating in darkness. Instead, he felt like he was waking from a dream.

Light pierced the dark as two walls separated. A blonde woman stared at her with sweaty hair and exhaustion in her eyes.

 _This must be...my mother. Ahhhhhhhhhh fuck. I'm a baby again, I have to relearn everything._

The woman spoke no words to her. Instead, she brought Michael to her chest and rocked him back in forth, humming a soft tune.

Michael felt his eyes grow heavy, he tried with all her might to remain awake, but it was all for naught.

"Goodnight Jett. My baby boy."

* * *

 _Six Years Later_

Michael, or Jett as his new family referred to him, had found himself in a new world known to the locals as Remnant. This world as he had learned from the small local library in the tiny village he had found himself born into, had revealed some of this new world's history. The world had four kingdoms that controlled everything, there had been a world war only sixty or so years ago, people were named after objects or colours – his own name being a reference to the colour Jett black, he much preferred his old name from Earth – the Faunus a race of evolved or devolved, depending on one's perspective, humans with animal extremities from tails, wings, ears, eyes or other animal traits who faced discrimination similar to that of the black community in the US up to the Civil Rights movement and even then for some time after. But most notably, Remnant had two things that Earth didn't. One was the miracle energy source of dust upon which their entire civilisation was built upon from weapons to fuel source. The other, Earth did have from time to time but only for a few years, a common enemy. While on Earth a common enemy was usually another country, however on Remnant there was the race known as the Grimm.

The Books described them as evil, mysterious, savage monsters that were attracted to negative emotions and had pushed all sentient life into four cities behind large walls and many small settlements that faced the constant threat of attack. Now, on Earth, if such a threat appeared it would unite most, if not the whole world behind the single purpose of exterminating the Grimm. But Remnant wasn't Earth and it did not share Earth's history. As such the people of Remnant had allowed themselves to fight and squabble among each other. Michael acknowledged such was human nature. He was no naïve ideologue or optimist in his last life when it came to human nature and the world and he wasn't about to change now. But the fact these people hadn't tried to unite for any serious amount of time to fight the Grimm that seemed intent on the extinction of Human and Faunus alike baffled him. The creation of the Huntsmen was rational enough. A group of people who harness aura, the manifestation of one's soul if such a thing was possible, and semblances, a superpower based upon one's personality or traits, with the sole purpose of fighting and killing the Grimm menace that had developed into military use, another logical progression.

The village and family he found himself in was nothing special. A small village in the pine forests miles away from the City State of Vale. The village of Umber which took its name from the surrounding Umber Woods had a population of just over one hundred people. There was a small-town hall in the centre of the village that had a market, shops and a library that surrounded it. From there houses sprang out in a tight circle around the centre of the village with fields beyond them, a wooden castle-like wall separated the fields from the village and the fields themselves had a smaller wooden wall around them to keep out the Grimm. His family, well his Remnant family that would never replace his actual family back on Earth, were known as Hazel Galster and Br're Galster. Hazel was a sweet woman who had fallen for the charm, wit and looks of his ex-con man father, Br're, who had fled Vale when he was exposed for the fraud he was. Despite his history, they had married and had produced him.

Being born as a baby was one of the most sublime and simultaneously frustrating experiences he had ever had. On the one hand, he would remember his experiences as a baby due to his fully developed thirty-eight-year-old mind. But on the other hand, having to relearn to talk, walk and run was so frustrating as he knew how to but had to retrain his muscles to articulate words and move his limbs coherently. As such he was sure he was the youngest human toddler to learn to speak and walk in history. Because of being mentally older than every other child in the village by a good twenty-three years, he spent most of his free time when he wasn't in the village school or helping around the home either helping other people or in the Library. As he was six nearing seven he was limited in the work he could do around the village, so he was relegated to doing household chores for a lien or two or in exchange for food grown by the house's owner. It wasn't much but it was better than nothing and he established himself as a diligent hard worker which would help him later in life in the village.

The time he spent at the Library he spent absorbing every book he could get his tiny hands on. While the other youth would play he would study. Combined with his knowledge from Earth he was the smartest kid in the whole village and definitely could put half the adult population to shame, though it wasn't difficult when half the population was illiterate or hadn't had the privilege of school when they had been born. He knew for a fact that the second he went to the city of Vale he would meet hundreds of people more intelligent than him.

He had also taken to a heavily watered-down version of the PT training he had done back on Earth. It mainly consisted of running with press-ups, pull-ups, weightlifting and an improvised obstacle course that amounted to a primitive version of parkour with scaling walls and jumping fences. He also practised some of the CQC training he remembered on an improvised punching bag made from a sack filled with hay. He had spent his entire adult life learning the trade of a soldier then later a Special Forces operative and he wasn't about to forget the days of agonising training he endured to see it all lost because he had died and reincarnated on a new world. His pride as a person and soldier demanded as such.

He was currently washing up the dishes for his mother, she had prepared a wonderful roast duck for their evening meal. Having stacked the last dish on the drainer where he could leave it to dry he moved the stool he had stood on to do the washing up back under the kitchen table. He was tall enough to stand over the kitchen counter and sink but he just wasn't tall enough to reach over the surface of the counter to do the washing up. Walking out of the kitchen which was next to the small living room he entered the store-front which acted as a corner shop that had prices that would put a tourist trap to shame. His father operated the store since he had moved to Umber and they all lived above the store.

His father was currently taking inventory on one of the shelves that stocked sweets and chocolates, he was a very fiscally aware man and despite the emotionless man he often came off as, he did have his moments. His father was a tall balding man approaching his late forties with a slight beer belly. He was wearing his old tattered brown suit, the kind that had that old-timey smell and feel with all the patchworks visible from the repair jobs due to wear and tear. Passing his father who didn't as much acknowledge Michael passing through he made his way to the stairs that were stuffed into the far corner of the store next to the counter. The wooden stairs creaked and groaned as he made his way up them. Reaching the top, he spotted his mother coming out of her and his father's room. She was wearing her usual brown dress, her long orange hair cascading down her back and with green eyes full of life and love.

"Have you finished washing up the dishes sweetie?" She asked.

"Yes, mum." He replied with a childlike smile.

"Such a good little boy you are. You've never made a fuss in your life and you always help around. What have we done to deserve a little saint like you?" She said as she affectionately ruffled his hair.

"Mum!" he whined as he matted down his mop of brown hair shooting her a glare that came off as more cute than annoyed, causing her to mirthfully laugh. He simply pouted in response.

"Now your father and I are going to a meeting at the town hall tonight shortly. Can I trust my big boy to put himself to bed before seven?"

"Yes, ma'am." He said straightening his posture and giving a salute like he had been taught in basic. His mother only laughed in response.

"look at you my little soldier boy. So mature and responsible. Now go get changed and I'll bring cookie up with your bedtime milk. But you have to brush your teeth afterwards." She added.

"Yes, mum. Can the cookie be chocolate chip?" His sweet tooth had also followed him over into the next life.

"Of course dear." She said as she ruffled his hair one last time before heading downstairs. While he did love or at least liked his new mother and father. They could not replace his real family back on Earth. Sure he had grown distant from them over the few years up to his death but that still didn't stop him from missing them. By the time his mother was back upstairs with a glass of milk and a plate of two chocolate chip cookies, he had changed into his pyjamas and have brushed his teeth.

"There you go." She said placing the plate of cookies and glass of milk on the bedside table.

"Thanks," he replied as he scoffed down the cookies. Just like on Earth as a child he had an insatiable sweet tooth.

"Now remember, we'll only be out for an hour or two."

"Okay, mum."

"Good night son. Remember to turn off the lights." His mother said as she closed the door to his room.

* * *

 _Later that night_

Michael awoke to his mother shaking him. A panicked look in her eye.

"Jett! Jett! Wake up!" She said frantically.

"Wah? Mum?" He asked groggily, whipping the sleep from his eyes as he sat upright in his bed.

"Get dressed as quickly as you can! Place only the barest of essentials in this bag and wait until I come back!" she ordered as she left the room. Realising the urgency of her voice and her command. He quickly ran to his draws and threw on a dark blue shirt and a black pair of trousers. He packed another set of clothes in the bag. Placing the bag on top of his bed he got down on his knees and reached under his bed where two boxes lay hidden behind the clutter. One was a box containing a survival kit and rations encase of emergency. In a village outside a Kingdom, it paid to be prepared. Pulling the bag off the bed he placed it on the floor next to him and preceded to stuff the survival kit into the top of the bag. He then reached under the bed once more and retrieved the final box. Opening the lid, he took out the revolver that resembled the Colt M1917 revolver back on earth. It had a dark polished wooden grip and the metal was a polished onyx black. Opening the cylinder, he counted all six dust rounds. Placing the cylinder back in place and cocking the gun, he ensured the safety was on as he placed it beside him and placed the two dozen rounds he had for it on the special belt designed to carry them and the gun. Buckling the belt around his waist he placed the gun in its holster on his right side and threw on his jacket to somewhat conceal the weapon. He had pilfered it from the town militia back in the spring as he had felt defenseless without a firearm of some kind.

Standing up and gazing out his bedroom window he could see the orange glow and smoke where the western fields were. He could hear the creaming of the townsfolk and the sound of the militia firearms as they fended off what he could only assume was a large Grimm attack. He knew that in the event of such an attack that the village was supposed to gather in the stone town hall and wait it out. But he had realised quickly that such a plan was doomed to fail. A bunch of scared and frightened people fearing for their lives would attract Grimm and lead to their deaths.

His best option for survival was to head east to Umber Creek, a small stream that joined Umber River that was a tributary to the main River that went through Vale into the sea. If he followed it, he would eventually hit the kingdom by following the water downstream. However, it would be a two-week trek in his old Earth body and at most a month in his current six nearly seven-year-old body. Assuming he didn't encounter any Grimm on the way. The Town hall had a small emergency radio used to contact other villages. It didn't have the signal to reach Vale, but if he made it to the old Fishing post in the centre of the Umber River where Umber Creek joined, then a transmission would get through to Vale and it would only be a day at most until help arrived.

With everything he would need ready he patiently awaited the return of his mother or father to collect him. Once they had gotten to the town hall it was just a matter of slipping away from everyone, grabbing the radio and escaping into the night.

"Good you're ready, follow me." His mother ordered upon her return. She had a bag on her shoulders that looked crammed full. Grabbing his hand she dragged him out of his room to the storefront where his father was standing waiting for the two of them.

"You have everything?" he asked.

"Yes." His mother replied.

"Let's hurry then, the militia won't last long." His father spoke opening the door ushering Michael and Hazel out. Closing the door, he led them the short distance to the town hall. It was a three storey tall stone building that had been given a large basement that was able to house the entire village for a fortnight. The emergency radio was kept on the third floor in the room next to the mayor's office. He saw as they approached the other villagers pushing and shoving to get in. There was shouting from the adults and crying from the youngest children who were able to comprehend what was going on or scared by the commotion. Everyone was being funnelled between the two large oak doors.

It seemed as if slipping away from his parents would be easy. Get inside with them and make it seem as if the crowd had separated them. He made sure the entire time he was waiting outside with his parents he stood completely next to his mother and let nothing separate him. By the time they were through the door, people had been so forced together that his body was pressing next to everyone around him. He let go of his mother's hand and started to enact his plan. Hazel looked down at him to see if he was still next to her after letting go of her hand. Seeing him next to her she smiled at him and looked up. He then allowed himself to be separated by a man pushing past. Now he was separated he pushed and squeezed his way out of the stream of people, he made his way to the stairs in the back of the building. No-one really used the back stairs so getting there and then up the stairs unseen was simple.

He quickly hurried up the stairs and made his way out into the corridor on the third floor. The Mayor's office was directly down the corridor. To the right of the office was the storeroom where the emergency radio was kept. There was a danger though. The right side of the corridor wasn't made up of a wall. There was railing that looked over the ground floor lobby where everyone was still pouring through to make it into the basement. By now his parents had probably realised that he wasn't with them and would be searching for him. Sticking to the wall and the shadows he crept as silently as he could along down the corridor.

Reaching the end, he opened to storeroom door just enough so he could squeeze through. Once he had he shut the door behind him. He could hear the Grimm and Militia fighting getting ever closer. Scanning the shelves, he spotted the radio on the shelf second from the top. It was just out his reach at his current height. Taking his backpack off his shoulders he set it down. He placed his foot on the lowest shelf, he briefly tested it to see if it would take his weight. As it held, he climbed up. He'd have to climb onto the next shelf to reach the radio. He used his right hand to grab the shelf below the radio and lifted his left leg to the shelf above the one he was standing on. He pulled himself up to the next shelf. Able to now reach the radio, he used his right hand to grab it. Pulling the radio off the shelf, he allowed gravity to pull him back to the floor. Before he made his escape with it, he had to make sure it worked. Seeing the switch that turned it on, he flicked it. He heard the static and whine of the machine as it turned on. Seeing as it appeared to work he turned it off again and placed it in the backpack. Looking once more around the room he spotted the Electric Dust crystals that would power it. Grabbing enough to power it should it run out of battery he put both straps over his back and left the storeroom.

Re-entering the corridor, he could see that no-one knew was entering the building and from the few screams and angry roars from outside, there was still some resistance from what remained of the militia. At this point leaving through the front or back doors were out of the question as the Grimm would be swarming the premise shortly if they weren't outside the building at that moment. _Think, think, think. There must be another way out. A secret passage, a rope. A…_

That's when he remembered about the thick rope that was suspended from the rood of the Town Hall from the east side of the building that attached to the stores on the opposite side of the market. It was mainly used for hanging banners for festivals and was never taken down and left out all year round. Not caring for being quite anymore he ran down the corridor to the other side of the building. Opening a door to one of the third-floor offices he made for the window. Peering out he could vaguely see the rope, he could also see a few Beowolves roaming the market place. He forced himself not to feel afraid as it would attract the Grimm. Opening the window all the way slowly as to not catch any unwanted attention from the Grimm who were all looking and scratching the ground, likely sensing the terrified village people below. Stepping onto the windowsill he grabbed the rope and gave it a few strong tugs and his other hand held onto the wall for support.

Feeling satisfied with the rope and hoping it would break with him on it, he made sure that everything on him would remain so. Turning so his back was facing the market and his face the interior of the office with both hands holding onto the rope, he used all his strength to hoist his legs up until they had crossed over the rope and he was hanging upside down facing the stores. He began to shimmy as quickly as he dared down the rope and hoped beyond belief that the Grimm didn't look up. The further he got along the rope the further in bent lower from his weight pulling down on it. His arms were beginning to burn from both pulling him along and keeping him on the rope, but he pushed on. He was only fifteen meters from the shop the rope was attached to. He made the rest of the way without being detected by the increasing number of Grimm in the market by some miracle. Reaching the shop's roof where the rope joined he saw a ledge made from the shop's name sign that he could stand on to be able to get onto the flat roof. Dropping his legs from the rope, his arms took his and his backpack's full weight and he nearly fell, his arms burned in protest.

Placing his feet on the narrow sign he turned to face the roof, still holding onto the rope. With one hand he grabbed the roof while the other still held the rope. He lifted one leg he placed it in a gap where the wood had come off enough for a poor excuse of a foothold to form. Pushing himself up he was nearly on the roof when due to the nature of his poor foothold a chunk of the wooden board broke off. It fell in what he swore was the loudest manner possible. He froze. He didn't breathe, he didn't dare move nor blink. Out of his peripheral vision, he could see a single Grimm turn its head towards the noise. He started to panic, should he pull himself up and out of sight but risk it seeing him and following or stay where he was and wish it didn't see him. Realising he was beginning to panic and therefore worry would only attract more Grimm he began to mentally go through how he would disassemble an M4 Carbine piece by piece. He repeated it over and over in his head like a mantra. Refusing to move or do anything else until the Beowolf looked away.

After what felt like an eternity the Beowolf turned its attention back to the source of the negative emotions coming from below it. Deciding it was better to pull himself up sooner rather than later he climbed over the low wall on the wall and slumped down against it on the other said and let out the breath he had been holding in. Panting a bit from his way over he shook off his arms as he calmed down. He didn't give himself long to rest as he was back on his feet once more. The East Gate was visible from the roof and so long as he kept to the roofs he would be fine. He began to make his way across them, sometimes having to jump the gaps between buildings. He was able to get as far as the interior wall. Stepping down onto it he peered over the battlements. In the fields towards the dark Umber Woods, he could just about see the silhouette of the outer wall against the trees.

As he could make out any Grimm he decided to make a break for it. A two-hundred-meter sprint to the Wall, either through, under or over the wall then the half kilometre walk to the Creek. Easy. He rolled as he made the fall from the rampart. The five-meter drop was not as bad as he expected it would be. Dusting himself off, he made the sprint towards the outer wall. His luck had held out and it would hold out still. He was nearly at the outer wall when he ran into an unexpected complication.

Hiding in the low waist high grass was a humanoid figure. From the sound of the sniffles, it sounded female. Slowing down and against his better judgment, he decided to investigate. Pushing the grass aside he saw the form of a girl his age.

"Coral?" He said in surprise. Coral was the daughter of one of the village farmers. Short, lithe and a sweet and innocent girl that wouldn't hurt a fly. She was smaller than him and had blond hair and bright blue eyes.

"Jett? What are you doing here?" She asked, half scared and half curious. He wondered how the Grimm hadn't found her from the negative emotions, mainly fear, she must have been exuding.

"I could ask you the same thing. Come on, I'm getting out of here."

"What where are you going?"

"The old fishing outpost."

"But that's dangerous." _What isn't dangerous about this situation._

"Look. Stay here, follow me or make for the Town Hall, I don't care which. I'm going to the fishing outpost." With that, he turned and continued to run off toward the outer wall. Reaching the wooden ramparts, he encountered his next challenge. How to get over them. As a child in the village, like all the others they were not allowed to go near it for safety reasons. As such he had underestimated how difficult it would be to get through. As a child, he lacked the strength to open the big heavy wooden doors of the Eastern Gate. He couldn't see any gaps or holes under the wall in which he could use to get out.

 _Fuck… I did not come this far to be stopped before I even got out of the village._

"What are you doing?" Coral's voice could be heard from behind him. He jumped, startled at her unexpected appearance. She simply giggled at his reaction.

"I'm trying to find a way through." He explained.

"And?"

"I can't get over it, under it or through it." He said frustrated at his lack of progress.

"I know a way." She responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

"Yeah, my daddy said to never tell anyone but there's a secret gap in the fence he uses to go out hunting."

"Did he tell you or show you where it was?" He asked hopefully.

"Yep!" She said rolling the p.

"Well? After you." He said motioning for her to show him after a few moments of nothing.

"Oh, right," she said blushing from embarrassment, "this way." She took off running and Michael followed. About fifty meters away from where they had been she stopped. Scrapping away some dirt she revealed a trap door. She struggled to lift it until Michael gave her a hand and it opened revealing a tight and cramped looking tunnel that looked like something the VC used in Vietnam.

"I'll go first." He said. He took his backpack off and took the radio out, followed by the survival kit. Opening the survival kit he withdrew the torch he had inside before repacking his backpack. Ensuring that he was in the tunnel and the flashlight pointing into the tunnel he turned it on.

"Follow after me and close the door behind you." He instructed as she nodded. Going prone he began to crawl through the tunnel. He kept his backpack in front of him and the torch in his mouth as he crawled. A couple meters in he heard the trap door close as Coral climbed into the tunnel behind him. It strangely quite bar the sounds of him and Coral moving. He could see the end of the tunnel from the light of the torch hitting the back wall. Reaching the end he was able to stand while bending over slightly. He noticed that the trap door above him was fitted with a sort of periscope that allowed the user sight of the above ground area. This was likely to ensure there weren't any Grimm. By the time he had made a full three-sixty sweep of the are Coral was there with him.

"Now what?" she asked, her front covered in dirt like his.

"I'm going to open the roof… door? It doesn't matter. I'm going to peer outside. If it's safe, I'll climb out."

"And if it's not?"

"let's hope it doesn't come to that." With his right hand, he pulled out his revolver. He took the safety off and with his left hand pushed the trap door up enough, so he could see over the ground. His eyes had to adjust from the bright torchlight to the moonlight forest for a moment, but he saw no Grimm and noticed they were twenty meters beyond the wall.

"Okay, we're clear." He said as he climbed out, making sure to turn the torch off and stuff it in one of his jacket pockets. Once he was out he helped Coral out.

"Where to now?" she asked.

"East. We'll eventually hit Umber Creek. We follow that downstream and well hit Umber River. That's where the old fishing outpost is. I can use the radio to call Vale and we'll be rescued." He explained his plan to her.

"And everyone else too, right?" she asked like the thought of not doing that was unthinkable. But Michael knew by that point that it would be too late for the village to be saved. Such was a danger of living this far beyond the kingdoms.

"Yeah, sure, I guess. Come on, the sooner we get there the safer we'll be."

They began to run as fast as they could, well, as fast as Coral could. Michael had exercised daily, and running was the focus of the exercise he could do. As such he could run faster and further than Coral for longer despite her sometimes helping her father in the fields, so he had to slow down for her.

After about ten minutes of running and some walking, they arrived at Umber Creek. Michael could hear it before he saw it from the sound of rushing water. It was the only sound that could be heard in the dark and still forest. The moon had been hidden behind the cloud cover and as such, it was difficult to see more than thirty meters ahead. Now came the next obstacle.

The Creek was in a small canyon that it had carved out which had a three-meter drop onto the sharp rocks below. The rocky sides of the canyon were jagged and slippery with wet moss meaning that if you survived the fall you weren't likely to climb back out. The canyon had a four-meter gap at its closest and five-meter gap at its widest. While they could follow it on either side down to Umber River the side they were on dropped down to be level with the stream and became a marshy flood plain. The marsh would slow them down and would drown their footwear and trousers, making the journey unpleasant. It would be easier on the opposite bank which remained high and dry all the way to the river. He spotted in the darkness a fallen tree. It appeared to have a thick and sturdy trunk. It was wide enough that he could comfortably stand on. He held his arms out as a counterbalance as he made his way across, placing one foot slowly and carefully in front of the other until he had cleared the small canyon.

"Your turn." He said to Coral. She looked nervous from the look on her face.

"I made it across fine, you can do it too." He encouraged. She nodded, seeming a bit more confident. She stepped onto the trunk and spread her arms like she had seen him do. She was far more cautious than he was crossing. He felt himself becoming increasingly agitated at how long this was taking. She had made it over half way when he foot slipped. She let out a shriek of terror as she fell. Her knee scrapping the side of the fallen tree as she fell. Her hand scrambled to find purchase and was rewarded with a small branch. Her hands locked around it as she dangled over the stream. She let out a few sobs and grunts of pain.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked, it was a dumb question to ask but he needed to know if she had hurt herself.

"My knee and hands hurt." She replied. He got back on the trunk and made his way to where she was hanging. Lying down on the truck he reached his hand down to reach her. The clouds parted and allowed the broken moon to shine down. The light reflected from the moon shone down through the trees and flooded the forest with a spectral glow. The moonlight glistened dazzlingly of the wet canyon rocks and white chitin. _Chitin?_ He thought as what the Chitin was attached to moved below as it slithered around the rocks at the bottom of the canyon. There was a small, yet still as deadly, King Taijitu making its way beneath the frightened Coral. Its four-blood red soulless eyes seemed to both see and not see him. One of its heads turned and faced Coral. Its fork-like tongue slipped out of its mouth as the other head turned to look at her.

Michael was in a bad position. He was lying down on the tree trunk, his left arm reaching for Coral who had realised from the expression on his face that there was Grimm below her and was becoming ever more terrified. His right hand was holding onto a branch as a stabiliser meaning he couldn't shoot the Grimm while trying to help Coral. Furthermore, he estimated by the time he would have pulled Coral up the King Taijitu would have struck and pulled them both to their deaths. He was left with a choice that had an obvious answer to him. Stay and try to save her and likely die in the process or abandon her to this fate and survive. There was no third option, not with the time he had available. _You could always pray to God._ He quickly dismissed that thought. He wasn't about to give Being X the satisfaction.

"I'm slipping! Help me!" He heard Carol say which snapped him back to reality from his thoughts. Making up his mind, he chose the most pragmatic option. He got up and dived off the tree trunk. His sudden movement sprang the King Taijitu to life as it sprung its two heads which had coiled, ready to strike the two children on the tree above it. With only one target remaining it went for Coral. As Michael ran off downstream intending to place himself as far away from the King Taijitu, he did his best to ignore the painfilled screams and shrieks of Coral.

For the first time, Michael felt his heart twist in guilt. His eyes filled with tears, his throat clenched. He marched on through the cold spring night, he refused to stop despite his reaction once he had realised what he'd done. The cold bit at his exposed skin but he marched on. The screams of Coral, echoing endlessly in his ears and off the trees.

 _I did what I had to do to live...I did...I did the pragmatic thing._

His hand clenched into a fist.

 _What else could have I done? The situation was hopeless._

A small voice in his head answered its tone cold.

 _ **You could have prayed. You could have prayed to me to save her and yourself.**_

His teeth clenched, fingers digging into his palms.

 _You can fuck off! I don't need your help Being X, I can do things through my own ability and power._

This time a small voice responded with a venomous tone.

 _ **You allowed an innocent young girl to be devoured, to keep your pride?**_

Michael momentarily froze in his tracks. He wanted to argue but he had just inferred he did not pray because of his pride wouldn't let him.

Then Being X pushed its point further.

 _ **It seems your anger at me and your arrogance blinds you. Those traits of yours will be the end of you.**_

His eyes narrowed in anger.

But the small voice of Being X in his head was ruthless.

 _ **You are the only one to blame for Coral's death. You heard her cries of agony and yet you still ran like a coward to save yourself. I wonder what your old squadmates from Earth would think of you now.**_

He could feel more tears welling up in his eyes.

 _ **You were the only one that had the power to save her, but your pride was more important, and you rationalize it as being pragmatic.**_

Michael continued to march through the forest, his own conscience attacking him the whole night, spurred by the brief exchange with Being X.

* * *

 **Jade Evergreen**

" _We'll be arriving at the source of the transmission in five minutes."_ The pilot's voice came in over the Bullhead's intercom. Jade Evergreen prepared Thunder Claw, her two gauntlets that had three retractable blades on each that could be infused with Lightning Dust. She extended the blades and glanced over them. Seeing no fault with them, she retracted them back into their sheaths. She glanced over to the rest of her team, JSMN or Jasmin. Her partner from Beacon, Scarlet Harmonia. The small feisty redhead used twin curved swords that combined to make a recurve bow.

The other two members of team Jasmin included Moss Bronte, a Brown Bear Faunus who used a double-headed ax that was combined with a shotgun. And Finally, her fiancé, Nox Umberwood. Nox and she had been together since their last year at Beacon when he had asked her out before the Spring Ball. He was currently leaning out the side of the Bullhead, his onyx eyes narrowed and black hair billowing in the wind. His weapon, Noctis, a broadsword that was able to become an assault rifle, was strapped across his back. The badge on his right shoulder plate, a shield in front of Remnant, was the symbol of the Aegis Corporation, of which he was heir to.

"I can see the Fishing Outpost. Set us down on the other end of the island." Nox said to the pilot.

" _Understood."_ The pilot responded. The Bullhead began to descend quickly. The Bullhead touched down on the North facing shoreline of the island. The island was covered in shrubs with a few trees in the centre that hid a small wooden shack that looked very run down. Only the sound of the wind in the trees and the river flowing around the island could be heard. In the distance to their west, a great plume of thick heavy black smoke could be seen, rising into the crisp morning sky.

Moss and Scarlet stood off to the side where the trees began, and Jade stood behind Nox who went to knock on the door. Before he could the door swung open and from the dark and damp interior of the shack appeared a very young boy. His brown hair was damp, and his skin was pale. His blue eyes seemed to scan them, taking in every detail.

"You sure took your time." The child said rather bluntly and slightly rudely, though some leeway could be given considering the child's situation.

"I suppose we did. And I'm sorry for that," responded Nox as he knelt down to be level with the child, "Could you get your parents, we need to talk to them."

"That would be impossible seeing as they, like everyone else in the village, are likely dead." The child replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"How did you get here then?" Asked Jade. She hadn't seen any boat on the shore and it was a long dangerous way from where the smoke was coming from for a child who was no older than six, maybe seven.

"Mostly running. I had to swim to get on the island though, that was the hard part. I had to find a log that I could move and that would float to help me get across." The child answered.

"Well, can you tell us your name then." The child paused for a moment.

"Michael, Michael Galster." Michael identified himself. Michael was an odd name, from before the Great War. These days it was tradition to name children after colours as their own names could attest to. Jade supposed that the village he had come from didn't follow tradition from within the kingdoms. A second team had been sent to the village to check for survivors. They would have arrived by this point and would be radioing in their findings shortly.

"Hello Michael, I'm Jade and the man standing next to me is Nox. Behind us, you can see Moss and Scarlet. We're huntsmen from Vale. Can you tell me if anyone else escaped like you?"

"There was a girl who was with me, Coral, but she was gotten by a King Taijitu. I don't know if anyone else escaped." Michael explained, he had a far off look in his eyes as he said it. She wasn't surprised, being so young and experiencing such events as last night, she would be more surprised if he wasn't traumatised by the whole ordeal. Behind her, she could hear Nox calling the pilot to come around and pick them up and Scarlet and Moss were having their own conversation.

"I'm sure there was nothing you cloud do." A six-year-old child would not stand a chance against a Grimm, much less one of the more powerful ones. She noticed the glint of metal sticking out from his jacket on the right side. She could tell from the barrel of the metal object that it was a firearm.

"Do you mind explaining to me why it is that you have a gun on you?" She asked in a motherly tone.

"I found it." Which meant Michael had probably stolen it, then again being in a Grimm attack it would not be difficult to find a weapon laying around.

"Do you know how to use it." She asked she hoped that the safety was on at least.

"Take the safety off to fire. The hammer must be manually pulled back each time before firing. A two-hand grip can be used for better stability when shooting and you aim using the iron sights." It was clear that Michael knew how to use a gun in a basic way which was impressive for a child of his age.

"Jade, Bullhead will be here in a minute," Scarlet said walking over.

"Has Team ONYX reported in yet?" Jade asked turning her head to look at her friend. She saw out of the corner of her eye Michael's head perk up a bit.

"They haven't found any survivors. The Grimm dug their way into the basement where the villagers were hiding. Sorry kid." Scarlet informed them. Jade turned and looked at Michael, his head hanging lower.

"It's alright, I kinda' expected as much to be honest." He said rather monotonously. He didn't cry or show signs of sadness, just hollow acceptance of the nature of things. Jade wrapped him in a warm hug like her mother had done to her when she was feeling down. She felt his small arms wrap tightly around her after a moment's hesitation, yet he still made no sounds. Either he had bottled up his emotions or hadn't quite processed everything that had happened.

"What's going to happen to me?" Michael asked, breaking the hug.

"I don't know. You'll be processed by the Vale Authorities and given an identity and legal documentation. A medical check and then you'll likely end up in an orphanage." Jade answered. Michael looked unsure but nodded in acceptance. Jade supposed the future would be daunting to a child like Michael. His entire family, home and village gone in one night. Thrust into a massive city full of people that dwarfed the combined villages outside the Kingdom. Adapting to the new and alien cultures of Vale and the poor public education system that was in place.

As they waited for the Bullhead Gunship to arrive, she realised that she and Nox could adopt young Michael. They were well off, had a stable job and home. It would carry the benefit of having a child. Nox was infertile and could not have a child despite desperately wanting one. And Michael would benefit more from being tutored and going through a private or huntsman school than the state-run public schools that were notorious for bullying and various scandals. Perhaps adopting Michael would be an option, she just needed to broach the matter to Nox.

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

 _11 years later_

Michael was in a massive open-air rooftop club overlooking the Bay of Vale, somewhere in the west of the business district. Michael wasn't exactly sure what the name of the place was - the sign had been in one of Remnant's many languages of which he still had many to learn, even if English was the main spoken and written one, but he was certain it was simply called 'View.'

As might be expected from the name, that view was spectacular. With an onshore breeze blowing the summer haze away inland, the sunset was turning the western sky into a kaleidoscope of orange-peach tones slowly fading out to purest blue above, unblemished by clouds.

Never much of a dancer, and not really a fan of crowds, Michael was wall flowering, leaning on a railing at one end of a raised bar with a glass of Whisky in one hand - he could afford it, after all, being adopted by a wealthy family and all that, even if he chose to ignore it - observing the spectacular view and the enthusiastic crowd, while letting the noise of the club wash over him and taking the time to not think about anything involving bombs, blood or ballistics for the first time in what seemed like years. Not, admittedly, that he would have chosen another life if he had to do it again; the years on Remnant had been hard, but he found sort of satisfaction in the Huntsmen School his parents sent him to. Back on Earth, he was one of the best, part of the most elite unit in one of the most respected military forces on the planet, and in comparison, the Huntsmen seemed a step-down, at least to him in terms of operations they generally performed.

He had been getting into an increasing number of arguments about what he would do in the future. His parents who were both huntsmen wanted him to also become a huntsman and serve Vale, however, he wanted to join the Vale Marine Corps. While he was only seventeen he was a couple of weeks of his eighteenth Birthday and he wanted to enlist. A violent radicalised sect of the White Fang had taken over Vacuo and he could read the signs from his world's history that the other three Kingdoms would be going in soon. And he wanted to be at the forefront of the action.

He estimated that he had a year or so before any action was taken by the kingdoms and even then, they would need time to prepare. The Kingdoms were not prepared for a war other than Atlas, but Atlas would never act independently in attacking a Kingdom, less another Great War break out. If he enlisted now he had a chance of serving in the military by the time war broke out and he would be using the skills he had from Earth on Remnant. He had done his homework and had learned that Basic Training for the Vale Marines was thirteen weeks, he then had to wait ninety days before he could apply for MARSOC training, then another training period lasting thirty weeks. It would take just over an Earth year if everything went according to plan.

One interesting thing he had learned about Remnant upon reaching the kingdom was that the worlds Calendar was different. One day was twenty-six hours, a month was thirty to thirty-one days and there were fifteen months in a year. So similar yet different to Earth due to a slower orbit and rotation.

Absently, he traced the straight scar across the bottom of his jaw to his upper neck. He had gotten it in a mishap with a Huntsmen in training's weapon. Michael had left himself open and his opponent's blade had lightly cut him. If Michael's head had been in any other position he might've not survived. He had refused to have his aura unlocked in response afterward saying that it would serve as a reminder to be more aware next time. He wanted to unlock his aura and semblance by himself through hard work, not charity. His parents had not been pleased but allowed it anyway. It had been the start of many future disagreements.

Earlier he and his adoptive parents had another argument. This time, unlike in previous arguments, voices had been raised and regrettable comments had been said. It ended with Michael storming out and a friend from Signal Academy inviting him out for drinks. He was still armed, however, despite his relaxed state, and he was still paying attention, which was why he didn't jump at the appearance of a tall, white-haired man who joined him in his little corner, leaning back on the railing next to him – Jura Blanc.

"Michael."

"Jura. Good night?" Michael sipped his drink, still eyeballing the crowd. They had just finished a school exercise that involved a two-week survival course in the woods outside Vale's walls.

"Hell yes, I'm a city boy. Two weeks in the wild is two too many, in my opinion ... is something wrong?" The fellow huntsmen in training half-turned, surreptitiously scanning the crowd himself with commendable subtlety.

"No, just healthy paranoia," Michael replied.

"Anything interesting, then?"

"Hmmm." Michael's eyes flickered across the club again, made a small gesture with his hand. "See that group in the booth over there?"

"Yeah." Jura looked at the indicated spot a few meters away, in a roped-off VIP quarter of the massive rooftop terrace, which seemed the focal point of about two dozen people, all in their late teens and early twenties, predominantly female too.

"Graduating Huntsmen probably. Having a party to celebrate the ending of their training, from the toasts. From those same toasts, I'm fairly certain it's that dark-haired girl's birthday too - the one in a red shirt - probably seventeenth or eighteenth, but the music's loud so I can't really hear."

Michael's watchful eyes rested on the woman in question for a moment, cataloging and memorizing automatically. Long black hair pulled back in a loose tie. Dark eyes, face slightly flushed from a mix of dancing and alcohol, but not enough of the latter to impair anything yet. Beside her was another girl, who was almost a carbon copy, but was clearly a few years younger.

 _Little sister maybe? Doesn't look eighteen … false ID maybe. Heh, I remember those days … wait a minute._

Michael continued to watch the older sister, more closely than before.

 _There_.

It was subtle, but she was scanning the club herself, much like he was. Not continuously though, because she was putting most of her attention on her friends, having a good time, but about every fifteen seconds or so she looked around quickly, covering a different section every time.

 _Might be trained. Too focused on the main club though, with her back to the VIP section, but that could just be because her friends sat down first. Or she's not that worried. Or she's just looking around. I need to stop reading so much into it._

Jura hadn't noticed the pattern. "She is something special. Looking to get lucky? I didn't get VIP tickets, so you're on your own for getting in there."

"Oh, she's way out of my league," Michael laughed. "Besides, one-night stands aren't my thing."

"Really?" Jura raised an eyebrow, surprised, maybe even astonished. "In our business, what else is reasonable? Where you might die any day and, in your case, spend months overseas? In war zones, no less?"

"No. I prefer longer-term relationships. Not that I've had many." Michael admitted.

"Anyone right now?"

"Sort of. Jasmine, a girl a year above us who graduated last year." Michael shrugged. "We have an arrangement."

"What kind?"

"That if neither of us is attached and we have overlapping time, we spend it together. You can read whatever you want into that." Michael smirked. "Friends with benefits, so they say. Also, if neither of us has found 'the one' by the time we're thirty, we get more serious about it."

"Lucky you; wish my various ex-girlfriends had been that reasonable." Jura pushed upright. "Anyway, I came up here because the guys are heading out, we're splitting up and going to a couple of different places. You coming?"

"Nah, I'm good. Don't want to ruin your boys' night out babysitting little old me, the clueless tourist." Michael saluted him with the glass. "Besides, tomorrow I'll be braving the flak at home for enlisting, remember? No need to add anything more to the flames."

"You know the way back to your motel?"

Michael just gave him a flat look; one Jura had no difficulty interpreting _. Do I look like a complete moron?_ The City boy just grinned. "You did describe yourself as the clueless tourist."

"I think I can manage, thanks all the same," Michael said dryly. "Get going, I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Sure, see you later bumpkin."

* * *

 **Indigo Ao**

Indigo Ao was indeed celebrating her Seventeenth birthday and the beginning of her sister's and her friends' time as fully-fledged huntsmen in a month's time. Her twenty-year-old sister Violet had come down from her dorm in Beacon for her few days of off before the final stretch.

Violet, while incredibly energetic and bubbly, was usually something of a rule follower … which was why she had utterly astonished Indigo earlier that evening by producing a fake ID and announcing she was going out with her older sister this night, come hell or high water. Very much against her better judgment, Indigo had given in, mostly because she'd been running late, but also due to the laser-targeted pathetic-puppy-dog-eyes bombardment Violet had turned on her. She'd never been able to stand up her adorable sister when she did that.

Indigo Ao; top tier huntsmen in training, brought low by a single look. _My father better never finds out - or worse, mom. Mom would be much, much worse, actually, because then I'd have to explain exactly what I gave in to letting Violet do._

 _Shoot me now._

Turning her head slightly, she looked over the dance-floor again, checking the crowd instinctively, as her father drummed into her throughout her childhood.

It took some time for her to spot the anomaly. One lone, brown-haired man wearing a loose white shirt and leaning on the rail upon the end of the raised bar. His face was pretty distinctive - with a long straight scar across his face under the chin, he would be easy to remember. He'd been there for a while - a long while, now she thought about it. Due to the gathering dusk, and the flickering lighting, it took several seconds for her to notice his eyes were shifting in a regular pattern even as he raised a glass to drink - door, DJ, dance floor left-center-right, VIP area, bar, the door again, repeat.

 _Perfectly positioned to see the entire club..._

She watched him for a few seconds before he looked away from the mass of bodies and out over the side …

And the view. Well, it is the name of the club after all.

Abruptly, he looked back. Straight at her.

 _Busted._

He didn't quite react as expected. Actually, Indigo amended, she wasn't exactly sure how someone should react upon realizing they were being watched, stalker-like. Angry, probably. Creeped-out, certainly. But not … amusement? Was that -

 _He winked at me! Arrogant bastard ... or not._ _He wasn't the one caught watching, after all. God this is embarrassing._

Indigo held his gaze defiantly for a few seconds, before looking away. When she looked back, he had turned away.

* * *

 **Micahel Galster**

A couple of hours later saw Michael heading back to the motel. The recruitment centre wouldn't be open anymore and he'd, therefore, have to go in the morning. Despite the temptation to let it all go, he'd paced his drinking carefully; the less you drank the longer you could drink for.

He'd just passed a bus station, a sizable crowd building up there waiting for transport to the resorts and hotels several miles away down the coast, or to the airport, with a scattering of police officers around the edges. The police presence in Vale was, while not minimal, fairly low-key as it was well protected and safe place, so appearances were important.

As he turned a corner, he was nearly run down by one of the two sisters he'd observed earlier. Catching her by the shoulders, he just about managed to keep both of them upright.

"Oh, bastard, bastard!" Then, apparently thinking he was a tourist. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's fine," Michael interrupted with a smile. "No worries."

"Okay. Sorry again. Got to go, bus to catch, bye Indigo!" This last bit was thrown over her shoulder at her laughing presumed-sister, the younger one.

"Bye, Violet. Try to be a little more careful." The woman shook her head as her younger clone disappeared around the corner in a rush. "I'm sorry about that. She's very … energetic."

"I can tell." Michael grinned as he drew level with her. "Sister?"

"Yes … how did you know?"

"It may be dark, but I do have eyes. She looks very like you."

"That's true. So, hmmm, I'm guessing tourist? Atlas by the accent."

 _Guess my English accent isn't entirely gone, despite living in the States and dying. Might as well run with the idea of being a tourist, could be fun._

"That obvious, huh?"

She laughed again. "Yeah, it is. At least you don't have a fanny pack."

 _Ahh, even here like in the states they don't understand what a fanny actually is._

In the background, there was a shout that rose above the rest of the city noise, but it was too faint to hear properly.

"I'm not an Atlesian, despite the accent, thank goodness," Michael replied, ignoring the shout. "Or over sixty." That elicited another laugh.

A really good operative can just read the patterns of the street around them without really thinking about it, see things out of place that trip mental alarms and give advanced warning of impending threats.

Michael was good, but not that good. He'd been in the special forces and military for most of his previous life, and his natural habitat was field combat, not plainclothes espionage work. He'd also been out of the military for seventeen years since he had come to Remnant. He did still have good reactions though, so when a bomb detonated somewhere behind them, and the concussive wave nearly knocked both of them off their feet, he didn't freeze up.

Instead, he pushed his conversation partner into some form of cover provided by a parked car, eyes scanning the street as he crouched down beside her, clawing for his sidearm, a customized sidearm, similar to that of an M9 Beretta from a concealed holster above his waist.

The bomb had been in the bus station … Crowds, maximum impact. The loud shout beforehand … probably from the suicide bomber. A vehicle coming to a screeching halt in front of them, over the trunk of the car … Transit van, door slightly open.

 _Kidnapping? Shit._

He braced his wrist on the flat trunk of his cover and waited for a half-second as the door finished opening, framing two people poised to jump out.

 _Targets? Face masks. Engage._

He fired. One, two. Shift targets. One, two. Both hostiles went down almost as their feet touched the tarmac as they jumped out of the van thinking their targets were surprised, unprepared for the opposition, weapons still holstered.

 _Movement. Driver._

Michael ducked, as a burst of automatic fire shattered the passenger side window of the van, and raked the car he was taking cover behind, before raking uncontrollably up the concrete wall behind him.

 _SMG, firing one-handed, a lot of recoil. Going to take him a second to re-aim._

Michael popped up again and unloaded another three rounds at the shadowy figure behind the wheel. One hit the near-side door, and another smashed the far-side window, but the third connected. The driver's head jerked sideways, and he slumped forward. Very unlike Hollywood, the horn did not go off.

Cold steel against his neck.

 _What the ..._

"Who are you?" The woman demanded. "Why were you in the club? Were you following me?"

 _Crap didn't see that coming. Not so much of a damsel in distress, it seems._

"Michael Umberwood-Galster, Huntsmen in training," Michael said clearly, "on leave after field training. And you are?"

"No one in particular. Why should I believe you?

 _Paranoid much? Well, I did think earlier that she was trained … hmmm, maybe this wasn't aimed at me after all._

"ID's in my back right pocket. And you're welcome, by the way."

"Smartass."

Indigo kept her weapon on the suddenly-very-dangerous stranger as she reached for the pocket indicated. A thin leather wallet opened to reveal a white-and-green photo-ID card with a hologram security tag, which proclaimed, line by line that he was who he claimed to be.

And the night had been going so well until this point.

"Fine." She slid it back, removed her gun. "What now."

"Now, we need better cover. That bomb can't have been a coincidence …"

The Huntsmen in training's words vanished into a haze of white noise.

 _Violet! She was going to the airport, she was in the bus station … where the bomb went off!_

"Violet, I need to get to Violet, she was …" Indigo's lunge off the ground was stopped by a powerful hand on her shoulder, shoving her back down behind the car.

"Your sister?" Indigo nodded frantically, all trace of calm swept away by overwhelming panic.

Michael cocked his head, listening to the night. There were screams, cries, the crackle of something burning, general hubbub, but overall were the ever-closer sirens of responding emergency units. She could see the judgment he made, almost as he made it.

"There's no point. You won't get there before the ambulances anyway, and there might be secondary devices. Fairly common tactic." He pinned her with a piercing look. "Any reason you might be targeted for a kidnapping?"

Indigo nodded. "My father, he's …" she trailed off, unwilling to tell a complete stranger, and a fellow future huntsman to boot that her father was the head of an infamous Arms Dealing group.

The man seemed to sense that. "Can't talk about it?"

Indigo nodded again.

"Fine. I can't think of any reason anyone would come after me here bar one, so it was probably for you. Which means protecting you just became the mission, so you are going to listen to me or I can just knock you out and do it anyway."

She glared at him challengingly. "So sure you can?"

He snorted derisively. "You're trained, but not to my level. So shut up and do as I say."

Suiting actions to words, he pulled her up and along the street away from the bus station, away from Violet. Indigo entertained some notion of pulling away, but the iron-hard grip on her shoulder and the way he was shielding her with his body from as much as the street as possible persuaded her it would probably be unsuccessful. At the first building - a large, glass-fronted hotel - he pushed her in the doors and yelled at the staff.

"Call the police!" When no one moved: "NOW!"

The night manager scrambled to obey.

Michael pushed his new principal - SF shorthand for the 'principal' person being protected when on close-protection duty - down into cover again, this time behind the flashy front desk; it was thick, proper wood rather than chipboard, which would do for cover for now, and had an etched glass sign above for Bay Front Hotel.'

"I've got the police; what do you want me to tell them?"

"Tell them that the bomb just now was a cover for a kidnapping, which I stopped, and I need back up here right now to protect the target of that kidnapping."

Seven rounds fired. Michael ejected the magazine and slid in his spare. Michael didn't bother to rack the mock M9's slide, as the last round of the previous mag was still in the chamber. Eight rounds left.

"You, whatever your name is -"

"Indigo."

"Indigo then, call your father, who I presume is somebody important at least." A nod. "Good, tell him what happened, let him know you're all right and I could use some help to cut through all the crap the cops are undoubtedly going to throw at a huntsman in training illegally carrying a concealed firearm without a license who just shot three people dead, regardless of justification."

"Fine." She turned to another phone behind the desk, staying low as she dialed.

Tires screeched to a halt outside, but Michael couldn't see the car.

"Is that the cops?" Michael asked the manager. She shrugged.

"Maybe; apparently traffic's all backed up blocking the roads from the bomb.

"The dispatcher said it'd take a few minutes to get someone moving this way."

"Okay."

 _Can't see any police lights reflecting off anything though._

"Here." Indigo was holding out a Scroll handset, which Michael took. "He wants to speak to you."

Cradling the Scroll, Michael kept an eye on the doors. "Go ahead."

 _"Thank you, whoever you are. My daughter said you were a huntsman, yes?"_ The accented voice on the phone was gruff, an older man with what Michael immediately categorized as a 'command voice' - a hallmark of an experienced leader.

"In training, yes sir." Michael caught sight of something, movement, but it was difficult to make out through the reflections in the windows; lights on inside, dark outside … "Shit, DOWN!"

 _Thumm_

" _ **This seems like quite a dangerous situation you are in."**_ Commented Being X.

"Not really, everything is under control," Michael said waving the gun in the direction of Being X's voice. "There's nothing better than being pro-active and taking care of your problems. I'm definitely not helpless and can handle this without the help of a metaphysical being. By tomorrow I'll be enlisted and waiting for boot camp," He stated confidently, "About a decade has passed and your still as unpleasant as ever. I still say I can do fine on my own. I don't need to put faith in a God."

Everything around him had gone still like it had done the first time their little conversation had happened. He could see the people around him ducking for cover. The looks of fear and terror frozen on their faces. If he concentrated hard enough he could just make out the shape of the bullets about to hit the windows from the gunmen outside.

" _ **What about the dozen gunmen outside, do you think with that little pistol of yours you'll be able to protect yourself and everyone else here?"**_

"I admit it may be difficult but not impossible."

" _ **Why do you still resist praising your creator. For centuries people prayed to me constantly, merely speaking to a human would cause them to fall to their knees and worship me."**_

"You're suggesting I pray to a voice in my head?" Michael deadpanned.

" _ **What if I were to help you. Show you some of my power, a miracle."**_

"You, help me?"

" _ **Yes."**_

"What's the catch?"

" _ **No catch I assure you. I will simply unlock your aura and semblance to aid you."**_

"All that for nothing in return. No one is that genuinely altruistic."

" _ **I admit some praise and worship wouldn't be unwanted, but I have a plan for you, as I do all my children."**_

"So, you're doing it because it's part of your master plan for my life. You are just, so unbelievably benevolent right now, you know that."

" _ **You and I both know that your pragmatic self won't allow you to pass up something this advantageous in your current situation, regardless of what your pride would dictate."**_

"I'm guessing that even if I say no, you'll still give it to me anyway."

" _ **You can learn."**_ Being X said patronisingly.

"Whatever floats your ark, go ahead?"

" _ **Receive my blessing, for it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee. In thy name, I bless thee."**_ The lights from outside seemed to grow momentarily brighter before dimming back to how they were before.

"So, what did that do? I feel no different." Michael asked.

" _ **You are from Earth; a place where aura and semblances do not exist. As such you have a very small aura by Remnants standards. Hence it is almost unnoticeable. As for your Semblance, you will have to work it out yourself, but I feel as though you will like it."**_

 _Thmm_

The hotel's glass front shattered under a hail of gunfire. Michael crouched over Indigo as they and a couple of staff members were showered in a rain of wood splinters and shattered glass from bullets hammering the no-longer-so-smart backdrop of the front desk above and behind them.

 _Four shooters. Nine mil sub-guns. If they were using AK's, they would've gone straight through the wood. Apparently, they're not interested in kidnapping anymore._

The fire stopped abruptly. Risking a glance over the top, Michael saw three of them run inside through the shattered windows, as another turned to fire at something outside. Blue and red lights flickered on the remaining glass panels higher up.

 _Police. They're pinned from two sides, and not aiming at me anymore. Perfect._

Michael braced on the edge of the desk again, only his forearms and head above the eyes exposed to fire - pretty much the best shooting position in the circumstances. His ever-reliable M9-esque pistol roared again, and one of the figures went down as he shifted to the next of the three.

Absently he noted the fourth gunman go down outside as multiple high-powered rifle rounds tore into him.

Another shot. Six left. Another black figure went down, but the first was still moving on the ground.

 _No way he survived a .45 to centre of mass … body armour, son of a bitch!_

He ducked again, as the third hostile skidded to a halt and opened up on the desk once more.

Click.

The target's SMG, a Micro-Uzi like design, locked open on an empty magazine. He looked at it, then back up just in time to see the .45's barrel reappear, and the impact of the jacketed hollow-point snapped his head in a gory geyser of blood.

 _Target down._

Michael knew he was damn near out of ammo, and although the girl - Indigo - still had a gun, it was a pocket pistol, a backup weapon designed to be concealed in an ankle holster, and probably only useful for a shootout in a crowded elevator.

 _Where the hell are the cops?_

The two others were still on the floor, disoriented. Being shot with armour on was better than not having it, obviously, but it still hurt like a bitch and usually broke ribs, and they'd both dropped their weapons. Judging from their performance tonight, the assailants seemed enthusiastic but amateurish, a part of his mind noted absently. A lot of mistakes.

The Armed Police unit, a pair of paramilitary officers in grey uniforms and olive green tactical gear and armed with carbines moved cautiously through the broken glass, weapons up and covering the gunmen. Michael ducked again - he really didn't want to get shot by some adrenaline-hyper cops after all that. That would just be embarrassing.

The Vale officers were, fortunately, not trigger-happy. They pounced on the still-winded kidnappers and had them zip-tied in a matter of seconds. Michael revealed himself with Indigo and the staff, and after a short exchange surrendered his weapon - reluctantly - and began the usual bureaucratic roundabout that results from shooting people and breaking things when you didn't have permission to do so.

Two hours later, Michael had finished giving an exhaustively detailed statement and was sitting on the tailgate of an ambulance outside, after the officer questioning him belatedly realized he still had cuts on his face and shards of glass down his collar and neck; something Michael hadn't himself noticed until that point. Indigo was a few meters away in another ambulance, parked at a ninety-degree angle to his. The paramedic behind him finished patching up his neck and said something along the lines, 'I'm finished,' and stood up, making his way over to her. She didn't look up as he waved another over-concerned medic away and leaned on the door.

 _And the prize for Awkward Conversation Opener of the Year goes to ..._

"How are you doing?" She looked like hell and had clearly been crying earlier, but that was all he could think of.

She glanced up long enough to see who it was, then down at the floor again. "Fine."

"You know that's an acronym, right?"

A spark of curiosity. "No?"

"Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotional? Never heard that one?"

"I'd rather not hear any jokes right now." Her voice was weak, almost inaudible in the din of the officials, vehicles and so forth around them.

"Sorry," Michael muttered. "I'm not very good at this if it wasn't obvious." That got a slight nod at least, meaning: Yes, it is very obvious. "Any word on your sister?"

"Violet. Dead, she's ..." She hunched in on herself again. "That's all they said."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't kill her … and I probably would have been dead or captured without you." Dark eyes regarded him with a more lively expression than he'd seen since the shooting ended, and the grief had set in. "Who are you, really?"

"Michael Umberwood-Galster. Huntsmen in training, soon to be enlisted Marine." She raised an eyebrow.

"Non-fully trained huntsmen and military don't react like that or shoot like that. You were body-shielding me, that's what a trained bodyguard would do." She pointed at his cheek. "And that scar is from a knife or bladed weapon. Unlikely a trainee would pick that up."

"Well spotted, Sherlock." Michael smiled slightly, though in part for crediting his scar to actual combat rather than a training accident. "Umberwood remember, I need to be able to protect myself."

That really did get her interest, though it appeared she didn't buy his excuse. "Why is a Umberwood a huntsman in training or enlisting in the Marine-"

Indigo cut herself off when a trio of large black SUV's pulled around the police blockade at the end of the street and came to a halt near the ambulances.

"My father, possibly," she said to Michael. Under her breath, she added, "In person. I feel so honoured."

"Ah." Clearly, not much love lost there. "He came, didn't he?"

Dark eyes met blue. "True," Indigo admitted. "He doesn't normally. Come to anything, I mean. Even before mom left him." Her tone was bitter as she looked back to the vehicles. A veritable sea of men and women bearing a wide range of weaponry poured out of the SUVs and spread out in a protective cordon before an older man - medium height, grey hair, expressionless face, cold eyes - got out of the second one, and approached at a measured walk.

"Indigo?"

"Hello, father." Ouch. Michael didn't quite wince at the icy formality Indigo had shifted into, and nor had he missed the word choice and tone - there was a world of difference in the warmth she gave 'father' and 'mum.'

"I'm glad you're all right."

Father and daughter embraced, but to Michael's carefully expressionless gaze it seemed mostly initiated by Indigo; her father seemed to regard it as required - just something you did as a father.

"And you would be the mysterious savior, I suppose?" The man in question turned to him, held out a hand. "Noir Ao. Thank you for saving my daughter. You are a miracle sent by Oum himself!"

 _Miracles are illusions caused by a lack of observations and reason, they are nothing more than a glorious misunderstanding_.

" _ **You are going to find yourself sorely mistaken."**_

Noir's grip was cold, mechanical, and Michael could tell he was being evaluated.

"Always. And I'm hardly mysterious." Michael smiled politely, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Indeed. Any thoughts on tonight's attack?"

"They were amateurs. The bomb was a distraction - messy, but effective. The kidnapping itself was sloppy beyond belief. The van pulled up while Indigo and I were behind cover, not in an open stretch of the sidewalk where we'd have been vulnerable. They should have bailed then rather than tried their luck. Then the firefight in the hotel - I presume that was the backup team. Another good idea, but they should have aborted when their pointmen were downed; with the police just around the corner, they panicked. Also, when the ones in armour were shot, a professional would have been up and moving a few seconds later. Those guys lay around on the ground like landed fish." Michael shook his head. "Being shot in armour hurts, but not that much."

Noir's eyebrow rose, somewhat impressed at the analysis, but only asked,

"Personal experience?"

Michael's hand rested for a moment on his lower left abdomen before he pulled it away again, reluctant to give away any more details. "Yes. But I wasn't wearing armour then."

The second eyebrow joined the first for a moment. "I see. Thank you again, Mr. Umberwood-Galster, for saving my daughter. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to speak to her now."

Thus dismissed, Michael left to find whoever was in charge. He thought about sticking around - Indigo had returned to her almost catatonic state once her father arrived, which was disheartening after her flashes of curiosity. Nonetheless, it really wasn't his business. Ten minutes later, he was free to leave and returned to his hotel to sleep for what little remained of the night. By the same time tomorrow, he intended to have enlisted and be preparing for boot camp.


	3. Praecepta Praevaricationem

Falling Skies

Chapter 3

Praecepta Praevaricationem

 **Blake Belladonna**

"So Blake, what do you think of our new Military Studies teacher? After all, you were motionless after you saw him." Yang jested at Blake. Blake was trying to read her Ninjas of love book quietly on her bed in the team RWBY dorm and simply let out an annoyed huff. His appearance may have stopped her in her tracks but not for the reasons yang was suggesting.

"As I explained earlier I'll tell you when we're all back here together. So you will have to wait until Ruby and Weiss get back from the Library." One-way Weiss was trying to help Ruby was by tutoring her and helping her with homework after classes in the Library or in the dorm, Ruby may have been a gifted fighter but she had skipped an entire year of education when she had come to Beacon.

"But I wanna know now. And what kind of name is Michael anyway? It's such a weird name." Yang whined from her top bunk. Blake felt her ear twitch at Yang's antics. Why couldn't Yang be a little more mature and patient?

"I'm sure you can be patient. Furthermore, the name 'Michael' comes from before the Great War and is only weird by today's standards because we started using new naming methods afterward. Besides he comes from outside the Kingdoms where not everyone shares our beliefs or customs."

"We're back!" The dorm room door was opened by an enthusiastic Ruby who was followed in by Weiss.

"So you going to explain the reaction to our new teacher earlier now that the rest of the team is present?" asked Yang as Ruby and Wiess set their books down on the desk by the window.

"I will," Blake responded marking her page in the book before closing it and setting it down beside her. She sat up on her bed as Yang jumped down to sit opposite on Wiess's bed next to Weiss. Ruby has already perched on top hers.

"I know you all noticed my reaction to Professor Galster when we entered his class," Blake said as her teammates nodded, "As you guys know I was part of the White Fang." They had known since before the start of the second half of term when they had interrupted Roman Torchwick's stealing dust from a Schnee company dust transport at the docks after Blake had let that fact slip. But now the team was back together and had accepted Blake and her past which she was grateful for.

"I spent most of my life part of the White Fang even when it first started to become militant. Something you need to realise is that to you Professor Galster is just an ex-serviceman and CEO turned teacher, but if you had been part of the White Fang you would know him differently. He first appeared four years ago when the Coalition forces of Atlas, Mistral, and Vale invaded Vacuo to liberate it from when a violent radical sect of the White Fang took control of the Kingdom. He led a platoon of marines during the invasion. His effectiveness and ruthlessness made him known to the White Fang after he took whatever position he was ordered to regardless of the obstacles or how heavily defended, often by bending the rules of war and using loopholes. It was because of him and his platoon that the Vale forces were able to take the Anourach Bridge and enter the Vacuo capital before any other Kingdoms arrived."

"So? He's an awesome marine who was really good at his job, despite some questionable actions," Ruby stated, "so why did you react the way you did? It's a bit weird to act that way to a regular marine, isn't it?"

"I'm getting to that part. That made him a target to the White Fang, but he vanished for eight months. When he reappeared he for the next two years was part of a highly secret and classified Special Forces group which the White Fang doubted the Vale government was even aware of."

"That doesn't sound very legal," Weiss commented.

"Because it isn't. They did operations all over Remnant hitting White Fang locations whether they were peaceful or not. Often they left no survivors. For two years, bases, cells and many other individuals were attacked, ambushed and assassinated by an invisible force that could never be found. Only death and destruction were left in their wake. They killed so many Faunus. Only recently did we learn the identity of a few of the people working in that group before I left." Blake hadn't noticed it, but her hands had balled into fists. Her knuckles turning white.

"Two Privates, a Corporal and one Captain Michael 'Nomad' Galster." Blake finished.

"So our professor is..." Ruby trailed off.

"A ruthless, cold-hearted, effective and efficient killer," Blake said.

"So if he recognizes you as White Fang." Wiess started.

"Blake could be in serious danger." Yang finished.

"Well, team RWBY will protect you!" Ruby declared.

"Yeah, if that Professor thinks he can harm a member of team RWBY then we'll show him," Yang added cracking her knuckles.

"It... would be a shame if you were to leave the team," Weiss said but the smile on her face showed she agreed with the other two. Though Blake had her doubts the four of them could win, Glaster had an army after all, if he even needed to use it.

"Thanks, guys." She really did feel blessed that she had three teammates like them. Though she doubted a single group of four Huntresses could take on Glaster and his increasingly active and expanding PMC that was beginning to rival Atlas's military in both skill and advanced technology.

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

Michael had just finished going through the remaining Beacon paperwork for the evening. He had a free day tomorrow as on a Tuesday he had no lessons he had to teach. Wednesday, he had two lessons in the morning with Thursday being the same but lessons all afternoon. Friday he only had lessons in the afternoon. Though free time would mainly be spent on Aegis paperwork and marking his students' homework. But as his Grandfather had pointed out he needed the connections in the Huntsmen circles and he would get some time in the field, something he sorely missed since becoming a CEO.

He had changed out of his teacher uniform of a black three-piece suit into his casual clothing consisting of a pair of jeans and a tight fitting olive green short sleeve shirt. He felt the tension leave his back as he stretched back in his desk chair. Feeling more relaxed he stood up and walked over to his smaller duffle bag. Opening it up he reached in and pulled out a scroll. Putting in the pin he went to contacts and pressed the only number on it. It took all three seconds for the person to pick up.

" _You know its impolite to keep a girl waiting? I thought you'd never call._ " a sultry voice came through the line.

"First of all, we're not that close and second, no 'how did you become a teacher at Beacon?' No, 'has anyone suspected you?' Nothing?" Michael asked.

" _I didn't need to, seeing as you called me. As you have apparently managed to successfully infiltrate Beacon as a teacher no less, means my plans are one step closer to completion. Your new orders are to gain the trust of the staff and students and lead them astray should they start to investigate into any of my operations._ " Cinder explained. _Or point them in a direction where I can't be connected to yet still hinders you._ He thought.

"Understood. Though some sacrifices may be necessary to keep and maintain trust. Is that acceptable?"

" _Of course, such things may prove necessary provided it isn't anything significant. If you have nothing else to report of note, then our business for now is concluded._ "

 _I informed Ozpin, the man who is your enemy, that I knew about you and may be willing to turn against you. Not to mention that he already suspected me in providing you support and had drunkard huntsmen break into one of my companies facilities. But that's nothing important._ "Nothing comes to mind. Oh, wait. There is one thing."

" _What?_ "

"More a friendly heads up than anything but Aegis may be making a move that could potentially hinder your plans."

" _Anything serious?_ "

 _Okay, tread lightly._ "Just that the White Fang and Aegis Defence Services may be having some capitalism applied to their… rivalry."

" _Am I going to get any more details than that vague hint?"_

"Mainly in Vacuo and Mistral with Vale being a potential third, but Vale would require an actual incident caused by the White Fang of significant threat."

" _Vacuo and Mistral are acceptable. Just make sure that whatever your about to do the White Fang can't be blamed on me beyond allowing it to happen. Am I clear."_

"Like crystal."

" _And remember, if you do anything to any degree that prevents me from achieving my final objective in any way I'll-_ "

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'll kill me because that's what all third-rate villains say in the flicks these days. Which is totally unoriginal I might add, but I understand that even evil can lack creativity."

" _I don't like being interrupted._ "

 _And I don't care for being threatened and strong-armed into helping you let alone dying, finding out a pseudo-god exists and is a dick and reincarnated into a dystopian bullshit world. But hey! Life isn't perfect._

"Suck it up princess, seeing as that is everything I'll be going. Enjoy your night Mrs. Fall." With that, he hung up before Cinder could explode and unleash her anger at him over the scroll for insulting her. If she had been there in person he would have been much more respectful, mostly out of fear for his life.

Lying down on his bed he began to ponder just how he could either get Aegis forces into Vale legally and how he could use other means of hindering Cinder. As the Kingdoms weren't aware of Cinder's existence and her shaky alliance with the White Fang and her even more shaky alliance with the Aegis Corporation meant he could use their forces. Ozpin and his little round table of misfits could only do so much being so small.

Cinder and her pawns moved in the shadows and out of sight of the Kingdoms and until they revealed themselves to him, were unknown to him. Furthermore, he had no earthly idea what her end goal or plans were. She had kept those in the dark. All he knew was that she wanted to create a new world order, by destroying the current one. He didn't know what that new world looked like nor how she'd destroy the current beyond needing the aid of the White Fang, Roman Torchwick, who'd he had served with during Roman's brief time in the Marines, with his surprisingly flexible female partner in crime and the Aegis Corporation. And copious amounts of Dust. Dust by the shiploads. She had the White Fang and Torchwick working on procuring as much as they could.

Aegis had been left alone so far which led him to believe that either they and he by extension, weren't required just yet or were a backup plan in case whatever Torchwick and the Fang were doing didn't succeed. He needed to send feelers out to Ozpin without revealing too much of his cards and hinder Cinder for as long as possible until one side revealed their whole hand.

Getting up and walking back to his desk he continued his trace of thought as he went back to his paperwork. After he knew enough about Ozpin and Cinder, then he could pragmatically decide upon which side to throw his power behind based on logic and reason. Such as what side had the greatest numbers available and in what quantity and quality. Did they have a WMD or some other game changer that would tip the scales if used? Did their plan involve a long subverting route or a sudden violent attack that crippled their opponent?

Ozpin, and therefore all Humans and Faunus on Remnant were on the defensive and therefore had an advantage. They had militaries, money, numbers, and cities built to protect against attack. Cinder and her forces were smaller, less equipped, lacked supplies and finances for a long war and were on the offensive. What made the whole choice complicated is that he lacked knowledge of Cinder's capabilities. The kingdoms were easiest variables as it was easy to find information on them and their activities. Cinder was an unknown, her powers were unknown, the total amount of forces under her command was unknown, allies, finances, equipment, even her plan was unknown.

Placing the documents, he had just finished to one side he got his laptop out to start going through and responding to his e-mails. Morally there was only one choice. Ozpin and the Kingdoms. He was the obvious 'good' guy or simply not the villain. Cinder was clearly the villain in all this. But real life wasn't a fairy tale, no film, no book, no comic, no cartoon and certainly no other form of media. In real life the world was Darwinian. The strong, smart and pragmatic would win. Using those three principles the villain would win in almost every situation as the 'good' guy or guys lacked pragmatism. They could be smarter, they could be stronger than the Villain. But if they couldn't do what was necessary where the Villain could. In the end, the Villain was guaranteed to win. But as a result of societal morality, values and precedent. The good guys had to win. Whether through lazy writing, deus ex machina, plot armour, being the good guy or any villain trope like monologing, the Hero would somehow win through bullshit.

Such was the way of fiction. But real life, the stronger, smarter, better, pragmatic side won. Regardless of them being the good or bad guys. The Axis in world war two was a prime example. They were winning the war from 1939 to 1942 when they were the stronger, better, smarter side but as the allies learned from their mistakes and began mobilising their larger economies and populations the war swung in their favour right the way to 1945. They won because they were the stronger and smarter side, not because they were the good guys.

Checking his watch, the time read 1900hrs. He needed to get ready and get to the rendezvous. As for getting Aegis forces into Vale that would be difficult, but not as nearly as hard as choosing a side. Vacuo had been keen on the idea of hitting the White Fang given Operation Sweeping Freedom nearly five years ago after the White Fang government was deposed. They had jumped at his offer and had been very accommodating to the Corporation's needs, though that could be attributed to Aegis's close economic ties to the small nation, being it's largest trade partner and employer. Aegis had been using Vacuo since the White Fang had been removed from power to build up its private military by manufacturing it's small arms, vehicles and some aircraft since the new Vacuo Council had been put in place of the, at the time, economically ruined county with a vast amount of heavy industry.

All it had taken to get Mistral's support was to fake an incident with a staged White Fang attack on a convoy of Aegis contractors and the disappearance of a small Mistralian town and military base. Atlas was a no go as they automatically distrusted anyone who wasn't Atlas and would never have a foreign military presence in their lands, paramilitary or not. Menagerie was the only near exclusive kingdom made up of Faunus and therefore sending forces there was a political shitstorm and would only create more problems than it would solve.

Vale, unfortunately, was not as cooperative as Vacuo and he lacked the same ability to stage an attack like in Mistral, not to mention firing upon fellow servicemen who had served alongside them up till a year ago would seem wrong, even to him. That meant Vale would have to ask for assistance for Aegis forces to enter and deal with the White Fang. He could push the White Fang to act but it would require a significant movement and he would only be able to do so much with what he had without Cinder noticing. Money, power, a place of importance in a new world and not being killed was nice and all, not mentioning the large sum of money he was getting from her. But having customers and being able to live in the world as he did was also a nice thought. There was no point in a third option unless he came up with a good end game.

Using his semblance to re-equip into his Multicam combat fatigues and gear, he headed to the door and began to quickly make his way to the rendezvous point with the UH-60 Stealth Hawk.

When all was said and done Being X probably had a hand in all that was occurring. Insanely overpowered woman who thought them self a master schemer like Machiavelli, a hidden group of vigilantes trying to stop her, an out of control terrorist group that was ignored by all nation-states over the last few years and creatures that embodied death and destruction snapping at the heels of civilisation waiting to devour it in its entirety. This world was insane and Being X was a cunt. _Christ, I need a drink._

* * *

 **Sandstone**

 _Kingdom of Vale, Industrial District 2300 hrs…_

For 'Sandstone' it was hell carving a clear path to White Fang safe house. He witnessed with horror as shrapnel from a hidden IED shredded the flesh of three squadmates when they triggered it. The blast also probably alerted the Vale Police Department who would be scrambling to respond shortly. While Sandstone had quickly gone prone to avoid the blast radius of the IED, a few of his men received fatal injuries. An unexpected ambush from a nearby derelict warehouse dwindled the size of the squad members that remained. But there was no time to mourn, to grieve, for their lives would be expended in vain if the mission aborted prematurely. Bulletproofed vehicles had slowed the progress of the remaining strike force composed of him, Sabre, Ozone, and Scarecrow with Lancer and Archer providing sniper fire from a distance. The team spotted the safe house, their destination, and charged forward, expecting and prepared for the worst.

Sandstone trailed Ozone, breathing heavily, exhausted. He still had to breach the front doors of the dwelling. The Faunus sprayed bullet fire from nearby cover, yelling wildly. Sandstone sprinted and crouched behind a dilapidated truck. He aimed down his scope and squeezed the trigger of his rifle as an assailant took fire at Sabre, who was hauling his way to the safe house entrance. The gunman slumped across the ammo boxes that he had momentarily used for cover, moved no more, and Sandstone reloaded with the grim satisfaction that his aim had been sure.

"Breach and clear the safe house. Go! Go!" Ozone barked when the bullet storm the sounded across the grounds subsided.

Sandstone trampled the short distance to the wooden door. He nodded to Ozone before mounting the explosive.

BOOM!

Sandstone's vision was suddenly blurred with dirt and debris as the door erupted. Ozone charged forward and fired into the threshold, Sandstone followed suit. He aimed at a gunman who haphazardly hurried down a staircase and shot him until the body crumpled down to the floor.

Ozone trained his rifle on an office room to their right. Bullets riddled the wooden floor, inches from the two soldiers, sending wood chips flying into Sandstone's field of vision. Ignoring the debris, Sandstone concentrated on the source of the fire and spotted muzzles flashing from behind a flimsy desk in the disorganized office. Sandstone exhaled sharply, steadied his aim, and eliminated a target while Ozone disposed of another. While Adam Taurus seemingly had no shortage of goonies, the men were not well trained.

"Office clear!" Ozone yelled over the gunfire. "Let's go, let's go!"

Sandstone followed his lieutenant back to the staircase and down a hallway to the back of the safe house.

"Sabre, make sure no one leaves through the kitchen," Ozone ordered their comrade.

 _"Roger that,"_ Sabre complied briskly over the squadron's comm channel.

Sandstone meandered quickly after Ozone through the Safe House that doubled as a headquarters and entered a kitchen that was furnished as a make-shift armoury. Plastic tables stocked with ammo, explosive semtex, and miscellaneous contraband crowded the room. He found Sabre guarding the kitchen entrance with Ozone nearby.

"Scarecrow, gimme a sitrep," Ozone talked into his headset.

 _"No one's leaving through the front of the basement,"_ Scarecrow responded.

"Sandstone," Ozone looked towards him, the face impossible to read beneath the balaclava and dark sunglasses, as the lieutenant spoke into his microphone. "Go upstairs and check any locked rooms on the top floor. Breach and clear."

"Yes, sir," Sandstone nodded, turned on his heel, and ascended the nearby staircase. He heard gunfire from below as he ran up the steps. The staccato of the bullets finding contact with wood and drywall intensified his resolve to eliminate the threats quickly.

The sooner the task force cleared the safe house and located Taurus's whereabouts, the sooner Sandstone's heartbeat would normalize. The sooner he would know that he had not failed. The incessant hammering in his chest nearly blocked out the death throes of dying men from the floor below.

 _"Dining room clear!"_ Ozone shouted over the radio.

Sandstone trained his rifle on the upstairs landing, heard angry voices, and targeted two gunmen in a wooden hallway. He took cover behind the corner where the stairs and the hall met and sprayed bullets until the soldiers slumped to the floor. Sandstone proceeded, with caution, to check the unlocked rooms in the hallway but found nothing or no one of value. He hurried to retrieve an explosive from his tactical belt and placed it on the locked door for detonation.

Gunfire immediately sprayed from behind computers and boxes of the guarded room; Sandstone discerned two gunmen from the bright muzzle flashes. His rifle locked onto a figure that foolishly ran out from cover, firing wildly at Sandstone. He returned fire, sending a precise shot into the man's skull. The other tango was wounded from the explosion, taking pot shots from behind an overturned table. Sandstone crouched behind the door frame and fired at the wounded enemy until the body cried out in agony and keeled over. Sandstone cautiously stepped from his cover, rifle trained across the room, and quickly scanned the corners and bulky objects for hidden targets. No movement.

"Top floor clear!" Sandstone yelled hoarsely over the radio. He swallowed, his mouth dry and lips chapped, hoping to stimulate the flow of saliva, but he was too dehydrated from the exertion. Cool sweat damped his armpits but otherwise, his skin was hot and itchy, the layers of jacket and tactical gear stifling. He had experienced worse discomfort on other missions – he would not soon forget the scorching heat of the Vacuo desert – but the stakes were no match for the present mission. At least one floor of the safe house was clear with no sign of Taurus.

 _"Top floor clear, roger,"_ Ozone confirmed. _"Sandstone, go with Scarecrow and check the basement for enemy activity. Breach and clear. Go! Sabre, cover me."_

As Sandstone descended the stairs from the top floor, he heard gunfire from Ozone and Sabre coming from elsewhere in the house. He momentarily yearned to assist, but he had his orders directly from his lieutenant. He marched back to the kitchen and traveled down a set of stairs to the basement. Scarecrow was poised on one knee at the bottom floor, rifle raised at the adjacent hallway.

"I've got your back, Sandy," Scarecrow greeted him. Sandstone nodded in reply, glad to have a backup for the final sealed doors. Scarecrow was a good soldier.

Sandstone observed a crumpled body at the end of the hallway. Scarecrow had already disposed of the assailants who had remained in the open. Sandstone placed an explosive on the nearest door. He fired shots into the opening as the wood splintered, his vision turned red as the bullets found contact with enemy flesh. As the dust settled and the blood pooled, Sandstone entered an impressive armoury devoid of further hostiles. Time prohibited him from examining the weaponry; he had one final room to breach.

He proceeded to the hallway and placed an explosive on the remaining door, Scarecrow poised at the ready. It detonated, and Sandstone fired at the scurrying figures at the back of the room. He could barely discern the movement through the debris, but it was enough to make contact, the screams ensured that his aim was sure. He charged forward, using the haze from the explosion as cover, with Scarecrow on his trail. They eliminated two additional aggressors, neither of them Taurus.

The knowledge that Taurus was not in the basement provided little relief. The hammering in his chest intensified once more as a flash of anxious heat coursed over his flesh.

"Basement clear!" Scarecrow reported to the team after Sandstone failed to find his voice. No Taurus… heavy losses… I have a bad feeling about –

 _"Copy, basement clear,"_ Ozone affirmed. _"All clear. Squad, regroup on me."_

The voice of his lieutenant snapped Sandstone back into the moment. Sandstone and Scarecrow scrambled to meet Ozone in the kitchen.

"Scarecrow, photographs," Ozone commanded.

"Roger that," the marksmen replied. He retrieved a camera from his vest and proceeded to capture documents scattered on counter tops and tables.

"Nomad, this is Ozone, no sign of Taurus," the lieutenant reported. "I repeat, no sign of Taurus."

" _Understood Ozone, gather whatever intel you can find. After that head to the extract point. Nomad out."_

 _Fuck. To hell with this op – a fuckin' wild goose chase with no prize._ Sandstone's stomach bubbled nervously.

"Well, the quality of the intel's about to change," Ozone replied confidently. "This safe house is a bloody gold mine."

Sandstone perked at that. He had not closely studied any of the paperwork scattered about, but he had noted the computers. It was a lead they had to follow up on – anything that could point them to Taurus and what the White Fang were planning.

" _Strike Teams be aware, VPD and Huntsmen have been dispatched. You have five minutes until extract birds dust off. Get what you can and get out."_

"We're already on it, sir. Taurus will have nowhere to run," Ozone said, all grim sincerity.

There was not a moment of hesitation from Ozone. "Sandstone, get on the computer and start a transfer. Sabre, you're on rear security. I've got the front. Go!"

"On my way," Sabre replied.

"Got it," Sandstone nodded. He admired Ozone's knack for quick and level-headed tactics. _Alright, five minutes… that's all we need and we're outta here with the goods. We've got this._

"Sandstone, connect the DSM to the computer," Ozone commanded, his gaze lingering on Sandstone for a brief moment of hesitation before he charged for the front door of the safe house. Sandstone approached a series of desktop computers adjacent to the office and located the DSM. He secured the connection and read the tiny analog display: DSM v6.04 … working …

"DSM working," Sandstone called to the team.

 _"Sandstone, did you see the armoury in the basement? Better stock up while you can,"_ Ozone's voice buzzed from the radio.

Sandstone proceed back downstairs, passed the corpse in the breached doorway, and scanned the stock lining the walls. He retrieved a grenade launcher with a sight and slung it over his back. It added to the bulk of his M416 assault rifle but he had no idea what was coming their way. He wanted to be prepared and he could not risk abandoning the DSM for too long. Sandstone pocketed ammo for the rifle and grenade launcher and spotted a few claymores. He clipped a few to his belt, the weight of his new acquisitions burdening his frame. _Five minutes… just five minutes… and besides, we get attacked and the load ought to lighten as I go…_

Sandstone rushed up the stairs as fast as his loadout allowed. He planted a claymore by the back entrance of the kitchen.

"Claymore planted at the rear," Sandstone informed his team.

"Any more?" Ozone called. Sandstone scurried to the front door of the safe house where Ozone stood at the ready. He handed a claymore to Ozone.

Sandstone muted his mic. "I've got the DSM covered… good luck, sir," He told Ozone privately.

Ozone nodded and made to plant his claymore just beyond the blasted doorframe. The lieutenant's voice crackled over the comm, "White Fang are going to do whatever it takes to keep us from leaving with this intel. We need to protect the DSM until the transfer's done. Use the weapons caches and set up your claymores if you've got any left. Defensive positions, let's go!"

Sandstone heard the acknowledgments of Ozone, "Ready to engage," and Scarecrow, "I'm in position" as he returned to the large, outdated computer where the DSM continued to download the encrypted files. It was delicate and would not take much damage to destroy the transfer should hostiles engage. For a moment, the forced intake of his inhale-exhale was all he heard.

The silence lasted a matter of seconds. He heard ominous explosions in the distance.

"What the hell was that?" Scarecrow's voice was nearly obscured by the noise of approaching Bullhead engines that thwumped through the air.

 _"Vale Bullhead coming in from the northwest,"_ Archer radioed from his sniping position.

 _"Roger that. Enemy Bullhead approaching from the northwest,"_ Ozone confirmed.

Sandstone trained his rifle to the large windows in the office and spotted the Bullhead as it swooped towards the ground. He saw three Huntsmen and a Huntswoman preparing to disembark as he ran to the windows and fired his rifle, glass shattering as the bullets passed through the cheap windowpane. A Huntsman toppled out of the VTOL, dead before his comrades leaped from the bird and returned fire. One of the benefits of using Aura Piercing rounds, it made Huntsman as mortal as the rest of them.

 _"We gotta cover the front drive!"_ Scarecrow yelled.

 _"No activity back here yet. I'm moving to the main windows, I need someone to mine and cover the driveway approach,"_ Ozone replied.

 _"Sandstone, use your claymores on the driveway and pull back to the house!"_ Ozone ordered. He heard the fire from Sabre's rifle as he approached the windowed office and dispatched an enemy. Now, to assist Ozone with the front… Sandstone gritted his teeth and ran desperately.

He spotted and collected more claymores off the floor, stored with other supplies in a makeshift cache. He dodged incoming fire and bolted towards the driveway. Ozone was huddled behind the old truck that he had previously utilized for cover before breaching the safe house.

"I'll cover your ass," Ozone spoke to Sandstone privately as their rifles targeted the drive for threats.

"I'll be quick," Sandstone replied with a slight smirk which belied his nerves, a claymore in hand as he stepped out from cover. He trusted the man to have his back… _But I didn't expect this much of a shit storm…_ He heard Ozone's fire as he planted several claymores across the breadth of the drive, only pausing once to check for threats, and saw a body crumple in the distance courtesy of a precision shot from the lieutenant.

"Squad, we've got the front secured with claymores," Ozone informed the task force. But it was no time for relief.

 _"Be advised, you have a large concentration of hostiles moving in from the southeast, they've just breached the perimeter! I'll try to thin 'em out before they get too close. Recommend you switch to scoped weapons, over,"_ Archer barked over the comm.

Sandstone and Ozone were already running in unison. If he had thought himself exhausted before the approach of the oncoming assault, it paled to what he felt now. Adrenaline pulsed through his body but he ached under the load of the grenade launcher and ammo.

"Roger that! Everyone cover the field to the southeast! Move!" Ozone commanded, he turned and entered the kitchen.

 _"I got eyes on VPD! Here they come! They're in the car park to the southeast!"_ Sabre yelled on the radio.

Sandstone passed Ozone, who was shooting from a broken window. The windows lining most of the safe house were already shattered. He spotted enemies creeping along the street front stores for cover as they advanced. Sandstone swapped his rifle for the hefty grenade launcher and took aim –

THUMP!

The grenade sailed through the air, landed near a small group of assailants, and exploded. Body parts flew among a cloud of smoke and dirt. The surrounding survivors scattered with shrieks and a slew of profanities. He launched another grenade and managed to hit a few of the runners.

 _"I have eyes on additional hostile forces moving in on your position. They're approaching from the factory east of the house,"_ Archer reported.

"They're moving in from the factory east of the house!" Ozone confirmed. Sandstone noted from his peripheral vision that he departed the area after eliminating the imminent threats from the southeast.

 _"Roger, I'll try to cut 'em off as they come through the trees,"_ Scarecrow replied.

"Use your claymores if you have 'em. Plant 'em around the trail east of the house," Ozone suggested.

A slight moment of relief washed over Sandstone as he listened to the voices over the radio. _The team's still here… and so is the enemy. But we're better_. Sandstone turned and ran to check on the DSM progress. He saw the enemies pour through the front door. He knew it was too late to plant additional claymores… _But at least the ones I planted out in the drive should reduce their numbers_. Sandstone went prone to the floor, retrieved his rifle, and fired at the SWAT team who were too focused on the computers to notice him. One shrieked and collapsed, a stretched out arm that reached for the DSM fell limply. Sabre blasted another SWAT member.

 _"Hostiles approaching from the west!"_ Archer barked from his sniper cover. Sandstone's momentary elation dissipated with the intensifying sound of enemy activity.

They just keep fuckin' coming… The size of the VPD SWAT department presents combined with at most the three surviving Huntsmen. _We can't stop them all. Hell, how much longer? As long as we make it with the intel in one piece…_

"They must be by the pier, everyone over the west approach!" Ozone yelled.

 _"White Fang RPG team moving in from the southwest!"_ Archer was on the comm again.

"Got it! RPG team moving in from the southwest!" Ozone echoed.

 _"We got RPGs left the side, plus machine guns,"_ Scarecrow's voice followed.

"Roger that, use 'em to cut 'em down as they come through the park tree line!" Ozone approved.

Sandstone had to act, boathouse or dining room… the threat of RPGs pressed him to the dining room window. If an RPG missile destroyed a computer or disrupted the DSM connection, the entire mission would be compromised, their sacrifices for naught. He again hefted the grenade launcher and took aim on the approaching forces as they appeared from the dense greenery. He squeezed –

PHHHHHHHZZZZAP!

His peripheral vision saw the curling smoke, the approaching missile. He ducked, laid prone, as an explosion erupted on the wall twenty or so feet behind him. He listened, heard the hurried footsteps of the gunmen, and listened for the distinct sound of an RPG firing amongst the cacophony of the battle. The White Fang reinforcements had likely joined in, making the engagement a three-way fight. Occasionally, he heard Sabre, Ozone, or Scarecrow shout the location of approaching tangos above the fray. But no sounds of RPG fire. He cautiously raised his head and peered above the window frame. He observed the location of the assailants, ducked again, readied the grenade launcher, and fired three times as he crouched and took aim above the shattered glass. No movement. He steadied his breath and reloaded.

He returned to the DSM to check for targets and heard movement on the property outside. They're still fucking coming… fuck! He ducked behind a sofa for cover as three SWAT poured in through the open front door. He met their fire with a flash grenade, which gave him the advantage as they winced and panicked at the blinding flash powder and the ringing from the concussive shock. He readied his rifle and shot the men until they no longer moved, blood seeping onto their fatigues.

Ozone emerged in the adjacent room, running past the DSM. "Sandstone, the transfer's complete! I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM! Move!" He ordered.

Gunfire still erupted around the estate, but they had the files, and now it was a matter of desperate escape. Sandstone discarded the heavy grenade launcher, ignored his aches, bruises, and cuts, and fled to the device. He scooped up the DSM and tucked it securely in an inner pocket of his jacket.

 _"This is Nomad. We're almost at the LZ. What's your status, over?"_ Nomad asked calmly over the comm.

"We're on our way to the LZ! Sandstone, let's go!" Ozone yelled over the sound of his rifle, the bullets pecking away at policemen who hid behind cover just beyond the safe house. Ozone started towards the extraction point, Sabre behind him, with Sandstone at the rear.

"Scarecrow?" Sandstone called.

"Killed in action, did what was necessary," Sabre spat bitterly. "Let's go!"

The three men sprinted through the park that extended past the safe house. Sandstone spotted a large pond, a decaying fence, a wooden pagoda.

If VPD's men were out this far, they'd be using that pagoda for cover. Before he could warn the others, policemen fired wildly from the backside of the pagoda. He scampered for a nearby tree, went prone, and lost sight of Sabre and Ozone. He concentrated on the desperate gunmen, who sacrificed precision and ammo for frenzied fire. He managed to take one down, reloaded and noticed Ozone crouched behind a rusting climbing frame in a playground a few yards ahead of him. Ozone fired at the assailants and he heard gunshots from back at the safe house. The VPD men had them flanked in essentially every direction.

Extraction close… not much further… his body trembled as he attempted to steady himself in a crouch position, the fatigue taking a toll on his motor functions. But he was alert, hyperaware of every sound and movement around him. He fired back at the direction where he heard the gunshots and heard panicked yells and cursing.

"Let's move!" Ozone yelled, the lieutenant moved rapidly through the grass, passing large dew covered bushes and thin silver birch trees. As he ran, he saw the park transform into a rolling, downward hill and thought that perhaps they had escaped the worse –

Sandstone sensed the stress in Ozone's voice before he understood his words. "They're bracketing our position with snipers, keep moving but watch your back! Sandstone, I got you covered!"

Sandstone hesitated, heard the crack of the high powered rifles.

"Go! Go! Get to the LZ! Keep moving!" Sabre yelled, and it was the first time he could discern the uneven panic in the soldier's voice. Ozone was no longer charging ahead; the lieutenant was waiting for him to proceed first. "We gotta get to the LZ! Sandstone, come on!"

He peered down the hill and noted the gradual slope leveled into an open area. The landing zone. Safety. Home. And it was just him, Ozone and Sabre. He swallowed.

"Archer? ...Lancer?!" he stammered.

"Sandstone, I'll cover you! Move! Go! Go!" Ozone grabbed his bicep and shoved him forward hard, forcing Sandstone's legs to automatically break into a run with the slope of the land, the weight of his rifle and kit dragging him onwards, increasing his momentum.

He ran until the shadows of the tree line broke onto a sunny field. It's all happened so bloody fast. Ozone, Sabre and him were the sole survivors of a full assault on White Fang safe house. They had lost so much to retrieve the files concealed in his jacket. He desperately hoped that whatever information was stored on the DSM that it brought about Taurus's capture, or better, death. He made to turn for Ozone, not daring to proceed forward without him.

An explosion collided with the ground not five feet from him. He dodged, attempted to glance backward for Ozone once more, and another explosion missed him by inches. He felt the heat of the flash on his face –

When suddenly bright red and yellow burned in his eyes before another explosion knocked him off his feet. He saw nothing but heard a ringing – a growing ringing that was joined by a loud, working-class accent. He managed to blink, a black balaclava materialized over him as a strong grip forced him to sit up, and shoved his M416 in his hands.

"I've got you, hang on!" The voice bellowed. "Thunder 2-1, I've popped red smoke in the tree line! Standby to engage on my mark."

His ears rang and he could hardly discern the sounds of ensuing combat. His heart hammered uncomfortably in his chest as he weakly lifted the M416 and fired at the muzzle flashes that emerged from the dark trees at the edge of the hill.

He suddenly lurched and long grass whipped at his face. He was being dragged backward, away from the combat zone. Ozone.

He barely discerned a new voice over the comm. _"Roger that. I have a visual on the red smoke. Standing by."_

"Thunder 2-1, cleared hot!" Ozone yelled.

 _"Roger that, cleared hot. Guns, guns, guns."_

His vision faded but he continued firing towards the tree line. He wanted to black out, to rest, the shooting sapped his energy, but he could not – no, would not stop firing until they were on that copter. Ozone was risking his life for him, to bring him back alive. He had to cover their escape.

A Little Bird helicopter swooped low over Ozone and Sandstone, guns firing at the red smoke at the base of the tree line, the bullet spray killed the remaining pursuing hostiles. He fought to maintain his vision… but the dark was beckoning if he could just rest a moment. He felt oddly warm and comfortable.

"Sandstone, hang in there!" Ozone's hand found Sandstone's and pulled him onto his feet. he could hardly form a coherent thought yet alone maintain his bearings. He nearly slumped back to the ground, if Ozone had not placed his arm around his back for support.

"Come on, get up! Get up! Get up! We're almost there!" Ozone encouraged him to move forward as the Little Bird landed ahead of them.

Sandstone murmured, inaudible above the sound of the copter's blades. his own heavy breathing filled his eardrums.

Nomad emerged from the rear door of the Stealth Hawk dressed in the Multicam combat gear and fatigues, "Do you have the DSM?" A few Shadow Company soldiers flanked the CEO. A vague sense of contentment and safety-filled him, as it faintly registered that he had succeeded. The DSM was safe. He and ozone had made it.

"We got it, sir!" Ozone replied triumphantly.

"Good, that's one less loose end, let's get you home."

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

Michael sat in the Beacon Academy's Staff room on one of the surprisingly comfy red chairs with a cup of tea as he sat back and watched the Vale News Networks report in the 'White Fang incident' from last night. The IED had been unexpected and had alerted the Vale Council to the less than legal Aegis operation. The DSM brought back by the Shadow Company operatives was invaluable in providing locations in Vale that needed to be investigated as well as key figures in the Vale branch of the White Fang. However, he had lost four Operators in one night. While the bodies had either been recovered or destroyed as best as possible to prevent knowledge of Aegis's involvement he knew Ozpin would at least suspect something was up. Especially after the incident at the docks only a fortnight ago.

As he was taking a sip of tea he failed to her Ozpin enter the room until he spoke.

"Curious isn't it" Ozpin's voice caused Michael to jolt in surprise, not that he would ever admit it out loud.

"What is?"

"The shoot out last night. Two Huntsmen dead, another critically injured, thirty SWAT officers dead with six wounded, as well as dozens of VPD officers. But the strange thing is, the fifty or so White Fang that they thought they were fighting were already dead, they had been killed by a third party which hadn't managed to escape by the time the authorities arrived. In fact," he paused to take a sip of his coffee that he always had on him, "two bodies were found, mangled beyond recognition, but they were both human. They also had no identifying markings or patches. It's as if someone doesn't want people to know what attacked the White Fang."

"That is curious. I could always ask my Intelligence branch to look into it, for a small fee of course."

"I'm sure your idea of a 'small fee' differs from what my definition of 'small fee' is."

"I won't deny it."

"But I feel as though there is a more pressing matter."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

"This Operation Queen-Slayer, I'd like to discuss more details of what you plan to do and how I and my associates may be able to assist."

"Of course, I assume you have a secure place in mind as to where this can be discussed." _He took the bait._

"Yes my, my office next week at half past midnight. I'll also be discussing your assignment for the Second Years field training later. Good day, Mr. Galster."

* * *

 ** _Being X_**

Being X as he had been dubbed by the petulant human let out a godly sigh. He was relaxing his palace. It resembled what many mortals had believed heaven to look like back when they still believed. White marble structures, building in the sky and so on. He felt tired, the lack of belief in him and his brother by the inhabitants of Remnant made sure his powers had waned over the centuries. This made interacting with the world far more difficult for both him and his brother. Each time either one intervened it took more and more energy and concentration to do. This made him particular tired when it came to intervention with Galster. If the man just believed in him it would begin to make interacting with the material world far easier. Instead, the obstinate man's refusal to accept his divinity kept things difficult. While Galster may believe that he was in full control of his actions and destiny that was far from the truth. Being X frequently interfered with world events and individuals to Galster's, and his own, benefit. While he would begrudgingly admit that Galster would have eventually achieved all he did, the timeframe that would take would be to late. His other piece would have made her move and Remnant would be inflamed. He had therefore seen fit to increase White Fang activity and destruction some years in advance.

His brother had powers of creation while he had that of destruction. Though what the ancient mortals failed to realizes that destruction can also breed creation. He had found it surprisingly fun to interfere will mortal affairs. Influencing politicians, brainwashing the masses, unleashing Grimm attacks on certain individuals. By using destruction he had allowed Aegis to rise to its peak power before it should've, and now. His Queen was beginning to make her move. And with his little pawn Galster embedding himself deep among his brother's own pieces. He had an inside man.

"Brother." The angelic voice of his annoying brother rang out, he was always being more worshiped by mortals.

"To what do I owe the displeasure brother." He said, tone hinting in his lack of interest in whatever his creationist Brother wanted.

"I've come to talk. I want to avoid any unnecessary slaughter you wish to unleash upon the mortals."

"And if I did what makes you think I would."

"I know what you want."

"Oh?"

"You want the mortals to worship us again. To be as powerful as you once were when you created the Grimm."

"And what are you proposing to sate me?"

"We both know little Brother, that I was worshipped far more than you by the mortals, as such I was always the more powerful of the two of us," His older Brother's voice held no hint of bragging, only bitter truth, "In return for your oath upon your ancient name to cease to seek the destruction of the mortals, I will lend you half of my power."

"And you would do this?"

"To prevent the needless destruction you would wrought upon Remnant, I would." His Bother responded with conviction.

"No." He didn't even need to consider the offer.

"No?"

"Finally after centuries of back and forth. Our pawns and minions battling each other in the shadows, we've reached the climax. My most powerful pieces are set up and ready to make their move. And you have your pieces ready as well. Even if most of them are mere inexperienced children. My Queen is already beginning to execute her plan and more powerful than your aging wizard, Galster is the heir of the second most powerful Corporation that controls a powerful military backing it up with two lifetimes of combat experience. And somehow eight children, your little round table of misfits and their allies are somehow supposed to stop just those two. Galster alone has a military capable enough to go toe to toe with the Super Powers of his world and have a chance of winning."

"Doesn't he want to kill you and attempts to oppose you at all junctures?" Which was why he was such a useful pawn. powerful, effective, and contradictorily, disloyal. This made him appear a rogue agent, yet this meant his pawn had more deniability when he did Being X's biding, or causing mayhem and destruction which fueled his power, like his vendetta against the White Fang.

"A minor setback." He lied.

"If you're not careful I might steal him from you. You aren't making it difficult." His brother half joked-half threatened.

"I thought you were above stealing? Something about it being immoral." he mocked.

"For you Brother, I'll make an exception." He wasn't paying attention anymore as his brother faded from his palace. Instead, he was more interested in an Aegis's Special Forces team illegally entering Vale airspace.

* * *

 **'Trouble brews in Drachen.'-The Mistrali Herald.**

From reports coming out from Drachen, it appears that pro-democracy separatist dissent is again rearing its head within Atlas's colony of Neu, the last time being during the Solidarity crisis of two years ago when Atlas nearly invaded its own colony.

There have been growing numbers of strikes, go-slows, and public demonstrations, and civil disobedience, which Neu police, and troops have been reportedly increasingly reluctant to put down.

Experts have said that this is sure to cause anxiety in the Atlas Council and that the Atlas Military is unlikely to allow the current situation to continue much longer.

Neu, and other Drachen colonies countries in the 'New World' have been allowed a greater deal of freedom since the Vacuo Agreement, but it is believed that Atlas will not allow any of them to collapse into chaos, which it may fear Neu is on the brink of doing.

* * *

 _Aegis Codex Entry_

 _ **UH-60 Ghost Hawk Helicopter** : The UH-60 Ghost Hawk is a five-bladed, twin-engine, rotary-wing medium-lift utility helicopter with stealth design. It comes with an armament of two side-mounted miniguns and flares. The Ghost Hawk was developed for special operations with a focus on deployment and extraction of troops undetected by enemy radar. Some pilots say the stealth design hindered the versatility of the helicopter compared to its predecessor, the UH-60L. Nevertheless, the Ghost Hawk is now used as a primary transport helicopter for the Aegis Special Forces._

 _ **AH-6M/MH-6M Little Bird** : The AH-6M and MH-6M 'Little Bird' are light attack/assault helicopters operated by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers). Both have extensive modifications in terms of avionics and provisions for the mounting of specialised equipment and weapons systems. AH-6M's are often employed in pre-planned direct action attacks and in close air support role. The MH-6M is unarmed and is designed as a light assault helicopter and is primarily used for precision insertion and extraction of Special Operation small size allows it to land in or on small confined areas like roof-tops or narrow streets. _

_The Little Bird is equipped witha 6-blade main rotor and 4-blade tail rotor. An improved tail boom and tail rotor drive system, chambered vertical fin and improved tail stinger were also added. The Helicopter's cabin features enlarged aft doors/openings and improved landing gear. It is power by a Rolls Royce 250-C30R/3M 650shp turboshaft engine with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system. An improved engine inlet and engine inlet barrier filter (IBF) and IBF minder ensure the engine remains dust/sand/particle free. Other features include crashworthy main fuel tanks resistant up to .50 cal, optionally it can mount external extended-range fuel tanks._

 _The AH-6M has an arsenal consisting of M134 Miniguns, M260 FFAR rocket pods, AGM-114 Hellfire laser guided anti-tank missiles and GAU-19 .50 cal 3 barrelled gatling guns. The MH-6M can be equipped with external personnel pods (EPS) with folded down benches of the sides of the fuselage which can hold 2-3 men, fast rope insertion/extraction (FIRES) gear, racks for carrying motorcycles (up to 2) and a winch/hoist system._


	4. Respiciens Retro

Falling Skies

Chapter 4

Respiciens Retro

 **Michael Galster**

"And that concludes today's lecture on assault from the air and sea. Your assignment for the next lesson on Monday is to write an essay comparing the two case study examples of Aegis and Atlas in regards to both. And could team CVFY remain behind momentarily. The class is dismissed." Michael watched as his class began to file out. RWBY was particularly quick to get out, though mainly because of how quick Mrs. Belladonna was. It was like she was unaware that he already knew about her former life and had been looked into due to her connection to Adam Taurus. Though Ozpin had warned him off acting against her.

That was a mistake in Michael's opinion, by all means Ozpin was well within his rights to harbour her and give her a second chance, he too sometimes gave White Fang defectors the same opportunity, however he made sure that a prerequisite to that second chance was all the information they had on the White Fang.

"You wanted to see us Prof?" Coco Adel, leader of team CFVY spoke informally as the three other members of her team flanked her. Michael had led a platoon during Sweeping Freedom where Coco's brother, Ajax Adel, had served under him, he had been one of three fatalities under his command. He wasn't sure how Coco had taken the death of her brother.

"It's Professor, and yes I did. As Ozpin has told you all second years will be having their field training after next week. While you are not supposed to know what you'll be doing just yet or who will be chaperoning you I figured this would be counterproductive. So instead I'm going to brief you on what we'll be doing. A village approximately fifty clicks west of Vale has reported an alarmingly high level of Grimm for what is usually present in the area. As you are the top second-year team you have been assigned this mission and I will be your supervisor. When you are Huntsmen in the field you will be expected to be able to plan and then execute operations," Michael reached down to his desk and pulled open a drawer. He picked up four files inside and passed them to Coco, "this here are the files on the village including the surrounding area and populace, Grimm reports and local terrain. This time next week I expect you to have planned the operation and how you will execute it. If you do this, I'll give you some extra credits toward your final grade."

"Don't worry _professor,_ " Coco emphasised the Professor, "we'll get it done in half the time." With that, she turned with a flick of her hair and strutted out followed by the rest of her team.

That was his day done. Now he had the weekend to kick back, relax and raid a White Fang compound or two.

* * *

 **Coco Adel**

Team CFVY sat in their dorm after their long day of classes. A major downside of progressing up the academy was the ever-increasing amount of homework. It just seemed to pile up no matter how much was done. That was also all before professor Galster decided to dump them with the extra benefit of planning their own field exercise. Coco popped the bubble gum that was in her mouth and let the sheet of paper showing a topographical map of the area she was holding fall to her lap. She reached her limit for the night and was in no hurry to finish up the last of her assignment. Her brown eyes drifted to each of her teammates who were faring no better. The files Galster had provided contained so much information. History of the village, residents and their government records, standard Grimm sighted in the area, local fauna, likely views of huntsman and Kingdom forces, geography of the area and every other bit of useful and seemingly useless information possible.

Velvet's long bunny ears drooped over her face and her tired eyes went left to right as she read the file on the local Grimm, trying to memorise what they would likely be going up against. Her fingers lightly tapped her pencil against the desk to keep herself somewhat entertained through the excruciating detailed pages.

Yatsuhashi was scribbling down notes on the paper, his eyes set in a look of fierce determination to finish the work. Coco knew he liked to meditate whenever he could which was usually before he and the team settled down for the night. Unlike her and many other students at Beacon, he had the uncanny ability to get work done quickly, diligently and to a high quality. He was likely condensing the information so that he could share it later when they began to plan their operation.

And Fox… well, he was blind, and the files weren't in brail and therefore he couldn't be of much help. Instead, he was doing the homework set by Professor Port which the rest of the team could copy later.

Coco dangled her legs off the edge of her bed as she began to think about professor Galster or Lieutenant Galster as her brother had often called him. he certainly wasn't what she was expecting. Though she wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting him to be like.

"What do you all think about Galster?" Coco asked looking at each of them.

"He seems like a nice person." Velvet turned to her, seeing an escape from the planning. "He did give some decent advice on strategies and how larger military strategies could be applied to our smaller engagements."

"Yeah, but still. We've only seen this guy twice, and he has no experience as Hunter."

"True, but that's ignoring the purpose of the Military Studies course. He also must have experience fighting alongside Huntsmen. He hasn't exactly done or said anything that suggests he's a bad person either."

Coco pursed her lips and mulled over Velvet's words. The girl was sharp and usually hit the nail on the head in her assessments. Perhaps she was right with the young man.

"But what about when in the first lesson with his spiel over conflict and how humans and Faunus will never truly overcome it?"

"I believe he thinks that because of his past as a soldier," said Yatsuhashi.

"What makes you say that?" Coco quipped.

"He's old enough to have fought it the invasion of Vacuo and subsequent war with the Vacuan White Fang. If he did then it is likely he saw things and maybe even did things that made him that jaded and cynical. I believe he may have made it into the papers during Sweeping Freedom for his actions."

"Seriously?"

"What experience do we have with war? Fighting for the lives of not only yourself but those around you? What do you think you'd have experienced and seen?"

The fashionista bit her lip and looked down. It was not a trick question. If someone was in that position, their instinct is to defend themselves and their comrades. One had to fight in those situations if they had any hope of living to see another day and it was better than awaiting the fate that came for not doing so. What extents would that drive you too in order to ensure you and your friends did.

"Why bring this up though?" Yatsuhashi looked up at her.

Coco only shrugged and hopped off of her bed.

"Nothing really. Just trying to get my mind off of all this work, if he had to do anything like this I am not seeing how he managed to cope. I feel ready to bounce of the walls if I had any energy left." she answered back.

With that, the brunette made her way to the dresser by her bed and opened it. She found the attire she was looking for and entered the bathroom to change. She exited it a minute later dressed in sweatpants and a tank top that hugged her figure.

"Any of you want to hit the gym?" She asked.

"Sorry, Coco. I want to finish condensing these two files." Yatsuhashi shook his head.

Her brown eyes went to Velvet who quickly snapped back to her reading, giving her answer in doing so. She then looked to Fox who snored lightly under his book. At first, she was tempted to grab his leg and drag him to the gym but decided against it. That would only piss him off and make the workout boring.

"I'll see you all in an hour or two." She headed for the door.

"You better finish your part when you get back! I don't want you rushing it at the last second!" Velvet hollered after her.

"Whatever you say, Mom."

Coco merely dismissed her words with a wave of her hand. She opened the door and exited the room with a slight sway in her hips.

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

Michael was on his way to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. The cafeteria for the Hunters in training was far better than anything that he had gotten in the Marines, even Aegis didn't have food as good as Beacon. Another reason that he disliked huntsmen, better pay, better food, better equipment, better intel, got all the credit, never had any budget cuts and the god damn arrogance he experienced from them in the field was unbearable.

Opening the doors to the cafeteria he made a beeline for the serving stations, ignoring the brief lap of silence as the students noticed him, a teacher, entering until they realised he wasn't interested in any of them and went back to talking. Picking up a tray he began to put the roast dinner onto his plate, after doing so he began to walk over to an empty table in the window side corner of the room. Out of his peripheral vision, he noticed team RWBY and JNPR trying to not be caught eyeing him. Keyword being trying. Sitting down he began to quickly tuck into his meal. Being in the military had taught him many skills. How to sleep anywhere in any condition, how to shovel down any food faster than thought possible and how to never leave anything lying around that could be used to prank you, that last one was learnt the hard way.

He was halfway through eating his meal when he had another reason to add why he disliked Hunters. A member of team CFVY, Velvet, had just been tripped up by the members of team CRDL who were now laughing at her expense. The leader of the team, Cardin Winchester, was now pulling on her ears, a very sensitive part of a Faunus. What really concerned him was that no other students were doing anything about it. They either sat at their tables and pretended not to notice or looked away guiltily. Sighing he stood. _Once again, a Marine has to do all the work because Hunters are fucking useless._

Using his semblance, he equipped a stab proof vest under his shirt. He doubted they had their weapons on them but against combatants of any level he wasn't going to take chances. He also materialised an HK FABARM FP6 breaching shotgun with rubber buckshot. He walked past the table with teams RWBY and JNPR as he cocked the pump action weapon. As he approached Velvet and the bullies he could hear her pained cries for them to stop. Her peers still failed to act. He came up behind one of the bullies with a mohawk. Raising the shotgun up until it was level with the boys head. He pulled the trigger, a loud resounding bang echoed through the cafeteria turning all heads as Thrush fell forwards unconscious from the impact of the rubber buckshot. Luckily for Thrush and his teammates, their aura would prevent the rubber rounds from being lethal.

Cardin had let go of Velvets ears as he turned in surprise to see what had happened as did his other two cronies. Michael didn't give them time to react. He fired into Bronzewing's stomach, winding the boy before turning to fire into Lark's chest. Aura may protect them from attacks, but it didn't stop the blunt force trauma. With three of team CRDL down it left only Cardin and two cartridges were left. Cardin went to swing at him, but buckshot was faster. The rubber buckshot pelted Cardin's face. Cardin clutched his face as he yelled out in pain as he fell to the floor rolling in agony. _This is so cathartic._

"That looked like it hurt a lot. Are you okay?" He asked Cardin in mock concern, all he got in response though was more screams of pain. Kneeling to Cardin's level he leaned over to the boy's ear.

"You are going to be quite as possible or else I'm going to shoot you again in a far more painful area.," Cardin's cries of pain turned into whimpers and restrained groans through gritted teeth, "good, its people like you and your buddies which is why we have the White Fang which people like me have to deal with. If I catch you harming, assaulting, bulling or even so much as looking at a Faunus with hostile intent then I will not use non-lethal rounds next time. Understood."

Turning away from Cardin he looked at Velvet who was clutching her ears that were drooped over.

"Go to the nurse's office and get your ears looked at, I know that they're sensitive to Faunus. If this little shit or anyone else is giving you trouble, then find me. I'll put them in the dirt." He said as he helped her up. She nodded meekly before heading out of the cafeteria. He then turned to address the rest of the cafeteria that was now transfixed on him.

"And as for the rest of you. You should all be ashamed to call yourselves Hunters in training. Your job is preventing things like this and if you see it you are to intervene. You will not sit on the sidelines. You are all equally responsible for movements such as the White Fang because of your inaction or apathy. It's because of people like you all and people like them," he gestured to team CRDL that was still lying on the floor, "that the White Fang exists like it does today and why despite my, Aegis's and the Coalition's efforts have been in vain. Until people stop mistreating the Faunus and ignoring their plight we'll have to keep killing each other until the other side is dead and buried."

He turned briskly and marched out of the room. Beacon had a gym, he could relieve his stress and annoyance there.

* * *

The crisp draft of Beacon's gym allowed some reprieve for those that were going hard on their scheduled workouts. It was not uncommon to see students and teacher working to maintain their fitness or push themselves to a new level. However, this night was different. The gym was almost empty, save for a lone teacher and less than half a dozen students exercising at such a late hour. Weights clanged loudly as they were set in place for the next repetition and hard footsteps echoed off of the treadmills.

For Galster, he always found a level of peace in exercising. During his days with his unit, he would be up before the crack of dawn to conduct PT and then he would do his own workout at the end of the day if he had the time. It did wonders for him since he was one of the fittest soldiers in his unit and the fittest in his squad. He was currently working on maintaining muscle strength and athletic fitness. He had already done the running portion of his workout and was currently working on his arm muscles

His neck strained, and he sucked in a breath as he lowered the large bar down and had it hover above his chest for a moment before he exhaled and pushed up. He could feel his arms shaking, but he was almost there. Just one more to go. He inhaled and brought the bar down once more and let out a grunt as he pushed it up with all of his might and racked it. He sat up and let his burning face cool off as sweat trickled down it.

"One more set. You got this!" He muttered to himself.

He rolled his shoulders and took a few deep breaths before he rested on the bench to push the bar off again, but he did not expect a shadow to loom over him. The corner of his brow rose in mild curiosity as he gazed up at the brunette. She looked familiar.

"Don't stop on my account, Professor." She smirked.

"Miss Adel, while I would usually enjoy a stunning young lady as yourself gazing upon my form but seeing as I am a teacher and you a student, I must insist you stop. " Michael answered back.

The brunette lowered her shades and peered down at him with her brown eyes. Ajax had once shown him a picture of his family including in Ajax's words, the most adorable and cutest little sister in the world, who'd he have to beat away all the boys from when she was older with the largest stick he could hold. With a quick skim of his eyes, he could tell what Ajax had said was true. She was lean, curvy, had a nice set of… assets and was very pleasant to look at. He was sure that if he were in Beacon as a Huntsmen in training he would have been pining after her. Especially when she was wearing short cut running shorts and a tank top.

"So you think I'm stunning do you?" She leaned on the bar. She made sure to lean in just far enough to give allow a look under her tank top into her cleavage but not enough to get a good look. Michael blinked and was not sure how to respond to that question. Should he play the ignorance card or play along?

"What?" He sat back up.

"You said I'm stunning. So I'm curious. How attractive do you see me as?" Her smirk grew.

Michael relaxed just a bit. He gave her a light shrug and rested back on the bench again to pump out his last set.

"Seven and a half out of ten," he said as he rested his hands on the bar. "Looks aren't everything."

"A seven and a half? Wow, you have high standards." She whistled.

"No, you just have little competition." The specialist exhaled and held the bar in place before he lowered it again. His arms began to shake more and he pushed the bar up. Nine more to go. He could feel his face turning red again as he tried to focus on the weight, but with the brunette still towering over him it was a little distracting, or rather, she was. Each rep became more and more difficult and when he came down for his last one, he could not get his arms up.

"Shit!" He wheezed out.

"Come on, push up!" The brunette squatted and rested her hands under his arms and guided him up.

The bar shot into the air and landed on the support beams with a loud crash. Blackburn shot off the bench and let out a loud breath. He was glad he finished the set, but still berated himself for needing a spotter at the end of the day. He liked being able to do it without a spotter since it gave him a gauge of how strong he was.

"Not bad," said the brunette.

She began to pull the plates off the bar and replaced them with lighter ones. When she finished getting them in place, she took a position on the bench and stretched her arms out quick. This garnered lingering looks from the other Hunters in the room that eyed her as she stretched out. She smirked lightly at the attention. They could look all they wanted but could never touch. Just as she was about to begin her set, she tilted her head to look at Michael.

"Hey, spot me for a sec," she said.

Michael got behind the bar and had his hands by her arms after she pushed the bar up. He gave a nod of approval when he caught a glimpse of the weight on the bar. One-fifty. Not bad at all for a woman. He could not help but smile inwardly when he saw her handle the bar with little difficulty. Most girls he knew could not do that, even the ones he served with. No matter how many PT tests they maxed or how many times they were in the gym, he had never seen them handle a heavy bar well, unless their semblance allowed them to or they used aura reinforcement. The girl in front of him was strong and he respected that.

"Thanks." She rested the bar on the rack. "Usually Fox is here to help me out."

"Fox?" Michael parroted.

"My partner, the Fox Faunus that sits next to me in your class."

"Ah…" Why couldn't people have normal names he lamented. He looked back at the brunette who rolled her shoulders and got ready for another round on the bar. She looked back at him expectantly and he rolled his eyes and retook his spot behind her.

"Since I need someone to push me, you're going to be my gym buddy for the night. Deal?" She smirked at him.

"Sure." He nodded back.

Once the Huntress finished her last set, she steered him over to the squat rack. Having seen what she was capable of on the bench, he was really interested in seeing her strength with the leg department. She opted to go first and set her weight on, and he gave a nod of approval. While not insanely crazy like some of those cross-fit girls he heard about back on Earth, it was still a decent amount of weight. When she looked back at him expectantly he got behind her and was ready to spot her once again. The girl pushed up and stood still briefly before squatting down in a controlled manner. He could hear the calm breath escape her as she pushed back up and repeated it again and again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see some of the other Hunters ogling the brunette with surprise and longing gazes. He also made note of some envious looks directed at him which he brushed off. Although he was guilty of doing what the Hunters that were watching, he never made it blatantly obvious. He had self-control and was able to keep his focus. To be fair though, the girl in front of him was good looking and could easily turn the heads of those she walked by.

"I'm done, help me up!" Her voice made him snap to attention.

Michael squatted and helped her stand back up and she racked the bar. A thin sheet of sweat covered her face and the top of her shirt.

"You're up, so show me what you got."

He motioned for her to grab the Fifty-pound weight to the side while he did the same. She rose a brow after he set it on the bar.

"You sure you got this?" She challenged.

"Watch and learn." He smirked back.

He got in the rack and rolled his neck and shoulders before getting under the bar. After feeling the cool metal grace his shoulders, he took a deep breath and pushed off. Two sixty-five, ten reps, nice and easy. The heat flooded his face and he looked up towards the ceiling and gave out one last breath as he sprang up and racked the weight.

The specialist turned around and gestured to the rack for her to go again.

"Not bad," she said with a nod. "But you can do more than that."

"Can you spot me if I go down?" He gave her a serious look.

"I can handle whatever you got."

The duo continued their workout and went all around the gym. Bench press, squat rack, dumbbells exercises, legs, they hit everything. That was normally a no-no in Michael's book since it hindered his performance the next day. He was now exhausted and could feel his clothes clinging to him, drenched from sweat. His partner looked no better. Her face was flushed, and her hair was now somewhat disheveled, but the satisfied look never left her flawless face.

"I'm impressed. Didn't think you'd be able to keep up with me," she said.

"Give me some credit. I'm a teacher, so I have to walk the walk." He scoffed.

"A teacher who's a Jarhead."

"I only ate crayons once." He looked away like a small child earning a giggle from Coco.

"Well, in any case, I may have to make you my official gym partner."

Michael's brow furrowed a bit. He was not sure how to answer back to the girl's statement. Sure, he was a couple of years older than her and the others in the school, but it would more than likely be frowned upon if he was seen hanging around her outside of class and it could give the wrong impression. He had seen it happen in the news with student and teacher relationships, and even a few times with soldiers down range. Relationships in the military had to be between rank and were not allowed to impede upon their job, spending more time together than they should with their subordinates was never a good thing. It gave birth to rumours and they travelled faster than a wildfire. A toxic topic that was sadly a big issue for military personnel.

"I don't think it'd be wise for me to hang out with you outside of class that much," he answered back.

"Please." She waved it aside. "It's your job to teach and help students, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"But what?"

He only shook his head and looked back at her.

"It just seems unprofessional. I'm supposed to be a teacher, not a student, not to mention my position with the Aegis Corporation." he answered back.

"So, few people here outside my team are willing to go as hard and as long as I can so I need someone who can keep up with me." She explained.

"I'll consider it." He decided to say. Wasn't a yes and wasn't a no.

"Anyway, there was one thing I've been meaning to ask you?"

"What's that?" Michael asked.

"What was my brother like, in the Marines?" _Fuck_ , that was the question he had been dreading since he had since he had learned she would be attending his class. Due to Operation Sweeping Freedom, he'd never flown back for the funeral and as such had not been present where he would have met Ajax's family, including Coco.

"Do you want to sit down and go somewhere more private or talk about it here," Michael asked.

"Can we go somewhere more private," Coco asked in a hushed voice, not sounding like the confident and flirty young woman that he had just been working out with.

"Let's go to my office."

* * *

 **Coco Adel**

Coco sat down on the couch in her Professors dorm/office. A brief glance around the room revealed a lot about him. Everything was tidy and organised with the room being very spartan except for two framed photographs, paperwork that was a mix of homework and reports and some suits and combat gear that was either hanging up or left on the floor. Michael was currently standing in the tiny kitchen he had and was stirring a cup of tea which he had made one for himself and one for her. Walking over he set the tea down on the table in front of her. He walked over to his desk where the paperwork and two picture frames were. He picked up the larger of the two.

"Your brother…. Where do I start…." Michael began

"From the start." She joked, Michael smiled weakly.

"When he joined, I was the Lieutenant in charge of the platoon he was in. At the time we were prepping for Operation Sweeping Freedom. When we first saw him, he was somewhere between incredibly nervous and drop dead excited. We were going to war and he'd be going. As with a lot of folks fresh out of basic he was a little rigid in some areas and sloppy in others. Yet, despite any slip-ups, pranks or tough going, he always had a smile on his face that never could leave it. He always had a bad joke to tell that you would roll your eyes at and could always see the bright side. Though, I suspect that was part of his way of dealing with the fact he was going to war."

"When we were deployed outside the Vacuo border waiting to go in, he really came into his own. He took the initiative and got gear, ammunition, and jobs done before we were asked or needed to. He was always there to lend a hand with whatever you were doing. The guys loved him and he became the little brother of the unit, and we'd defend him from anyone trying to start shit. We took this photo before we got sent in, the last photo of the entire unit before the war." Michael handed the picture over to Coco and pointed on it to where her brother was. She could see her brother was kneeling next Michael with an arm around his shoulder, grinning like an idiot with her teacher. She traced her fingers over the image of her brother.

"Wait, on your left in the picture, isn't that-"

"Roman Torchwick, infamous criminal mastermind and most wanted man in Vale. Why yes, yes, yes it is."

"He served in the Marines?" Coco asked, momentarily distracted from the original purpose of the conversation.

"Yes, it was after he quit being a Huntsman but before he became a criminal. He was wounded towards the end of the war and was medically discharged from service. He and your brother got on as well as puppies and fire ants." It was her turn to smile weakly at his analogy.

"But when the cards were down they got along fine and were quite amiable when they weren't at each other's throats," She noticed Michael smile fondly, "this one time they had a prank war, constantly trying to one-up the other. Your brother switched Roman's shampoo with a bright pink dye which regulations prevented you from having so Roman had to shave all his hair off, in retaliation Roman used a flashbang on your brother while he was using the restroom." Michael said laughing softly at the memory as she smiled, imagining the criminal mastermind with his hair dyed pink then having to shave and her brother stumbling out a toilet disorientated with his pants down.

"But I assume you'd rather be hearing about his time during the war currently?" She nodded. Her parents never let her know what exactly her brother was doing nor the full extent of what he talked about in his letters once the war started. Even now they still never allowed her to see the letters. If she wanted to find out her brother's story she had to go to someone who served with him.

"Right then… I suppose the best place to start would be the day we went to war."

* * *

 **Ajax Adel**

Ajax sat in the cramped Amphibious Combat Vehicle SuperAV, provided and produced by Aegis Defence Services as more and more of the equipment was if not all of it. This had been a steady process over the last half year. From what he heard from the grapevine his platoon leader had been the middle man between the Vale Military and Aegis Corporation for the deal. The Vale Council despite the looming war had refused to increase the military's budget, limiting its capabilities. Then in strode Michael Umberwood, or Galster, to the Marines with a solution. All the gear needed to fight on air, sea, and land for a significantly reduced cost but on the stipend of protecting Aegis's assets and trade routes. With no one else to turn to the higher-ups had accepted. It had come with many benefits, new more advanced and powerful weapons of war, faster more agile aircraft, reduced manpower needed for crewing ships and better protection and support for troops, though the transport vehicles could have comfier seats. But many of these were untested new systems until recent.

Five hours ago the opening shots of Sweeping Freedom, had been fired. The Vale Airforce had dropped laser-guided munitions on White Fang positions and infrastructure, the Navy supported these actions with cruise missiles while the Army and Marines unleashed a furious storm of artillery. Now the Vale Expeditionary Forces were rolling across the Vacuoan desert to their first objective, a small town called Ti-gris, encountering only shocked and awed White Fang conscripts. Now his convoy of two Challenger 2 tanks and a dozen SuperAV were rolling down a highway under the cover of darkness.

Ajax looked at the men he shared the troop compartment with. All had grim prepared looks on their faces, either staring off into space blankly, fiddling with their SA80 L85A3 rifles, or eyes closed trying to get some sleep. All except Lieutenant Galster who sat with a calm smile on his face as though this wasn't his first war, and everything was normal. Ajax wished he could have the Lt's quiet confidence at a time like this. Closing his eyes, he tried to clear his mind of any niggling worries and unwanted thoughts, getting worked up would not help anyone. Instead, he thought of home, his overbearing mother, hardworking father and adorable little goofball of a sister. Over the low steady rumble of the engine and the hushed whispers of the other Marines he could make out the Lt on the radio, but it was difficult to hear what he was saying.

"Okay Marines listen up, there's been a development." He heard Glaster call from his seat, the vehicle becoming silent bar the engine.

"It appears our friends in the White Fang held up in Ti-gris haven't been dissuaded by our big guns and are still holding out. Captain Luna has volunteered our company to clear out the town. Intel also suggests the Ace of Clubs is present somewhere so keep an eye out for him. We'll be setting up on hill 247 on the east side of the town, from there we'll advance on foot and push to the centre of the town. We'll have to clear each building one by one so remember to check your corners and watch for snipers. Make sure to keep an eye out for civies, we want collateral at a minimum. Keep your heads on straight and remember your training and you'll make it home. Oorah."

"OORAH!" everyone yelled back. Ajax felt like a swarm of butterflies were invading his stomach. This was it, no more training, no more waiting, no more drills. This was it, combat, fighting, war. And not a war at a distance, this was going to be up close and personal. No distant figure dropping to the floor which you or anyone else could have shot.

"Adel, it's best not to dwell on such thoughts, they'll be of no help." The Lt must have caught the look on his face.

"Sorry sir, it's just trying to process having to kill someone for real is all." Ajax admitted, "I'm not sure how I feel about it."

"You'll find it's not as difficult as it appears," Galster said with that calm expression of his.

"You've killed before sir?" He asked without really thinking about how inappropriate such a question might be. If the Lt was taken aback by such a question he didn't show it.

"I have, a few times actually." By now the rest of the guys were listening in on the conversation.

"When and who?" Asked Sergeant Roman.

"About almost a year ago now. Was the night before I enlisted. I'd been out clubbing and was leaving for the motel when a White Fang hit squad tried to kill my girlfriend. Ended up having a shootout. Killed about six of them."

"What did you feel?" Asked Ajax curiously. He remembered such an incident being reported on the news.

"Recoil," Galster said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, he could make out Roman and a few others letting out some morbid chuckles, "but in all seriousness, at the time I didn't really feel anything, it was a couple hours later when it hit. I wouldn't say I felt guilty or remorseful, more a sense of serene understanding. The classic him or me, self-defense and so on. Though everyone reacts differently. If it's any consolation the people we'll be killing are terrorists, less than animals, worse than Grimm. Grimm doesn't resort to hostages, pot-shots, and IEDs. They deserve no respect nor pity, killing them will be a service to any self-respecting sentient lifeform on this world. One less stain on its surface." He felt the Lt meant those words more than Ajax was willing to be comfortable with. But maybe it helped to think like that.

Ten minutes later, on the hill overlooking Ti-gris would have looked normal as it should and as it needed to be. But hidden under or behind whatever cover they could find. Hidden under a dabble of trees and bushes Galster's platoon. Over the town, gunships were doing battle with the AA positions on the ground, filling the air with crashes, thumps, and shrieks of rockets. A layer of dust and sand wafted through the air, a mixture of the desert wind and explosions. The vehicles had taken up position behind the crest of the hill.

Roman was stuffing his face with the last of his energy bar.

"The flyboys are putting on a hell of a firework show there. Just like in an Atlesian action flick."

A fellow Marine, Verdant, lay on his back, gloved hands cradling his head.

"What did your mother tell you? Don't talk with your mouth fall."

Ajax wasn't really paying attention, he was fiddling with his night-vision goggles which were malfunctioning. It was much a background noise as like the gunfire and White Fang propaganda that was spewing out from loudspeakers located somewhere along the outskirts of the town, some of which could be heard over the gunships.

" _we shall claim back… with claws, we will strike down the human invader…"_ Ajax felt Galster nudge him.

"They're going to need a lot more than just claws when we ride into town."

Roman twitched, "If he doesn't shut up, I'm going to stick it right up his loudspeaker."

In front of them at the bottom of the hill, on the other side of the overpass White Fang groups were setting up machine gun posts in the upper floors of the buildings, "You see that?" Galster asked him.

"Fuck these NVG's," Ajax threw his NVG's on the ground, "Going to war with the White Fang and we're fresh out of batteries."

"Here, I always carry some spare." Ajax looked up and saw the Lt passing him the required batteries.

"Thanks' sir."

"Gun trucks coming in." Captain Luna stood up and stared in the direction Roman was pointing.

"The fuck did they come from? We're not even in an overwatch position." Galster commented. A convoy of five Atlas All-Terrain Light Utility Vehicles or ATLUVs were making an easterly approach into the city. Captain Luna slide back under the camo net where the radio was.

"Brimstone actual this is Misfit actual, we do not have target secured, say again, target not secured. Hold your position, over."

Ajax didn't need a thermometer to know Luna's temperature was rising.

"Come the fuck on, Blanc." Hearing the name Ajax and Galster exchanged looks. The 'Blanc Bunch' were rolling into town. Both loved and loathed, Lieutenant Blanc was a product of Atlas's military academy for better or worse. While a competent leader thankfully, he was known for being brash, impatient and reckless. Often interpreting orders in his own unique way. And if there was so much a whiff of glory, Blanc was chasing it like a dog after a stick. When the answer finally came, Blanc's voice was distorted and full of impatience.

" _Misfit Actual, we are not stopping. So you better get your ass in position and cover our advance, over."_

"This is so fucked up." Luna shook his head and got back on the radio, "All callsigns Misfit, we are mission launch, repeat we are mission launch."

The hill came alive as forty-five Marines erupted from their concealed positions and charged down towards the overpass. In Ajax's group, Galster and Roman led the way with the others not far behind, Echo brought up the rear carrying the mortar. As soon as the squad was at the overpass Luna was on the radio.

" _We need illumination rounds in the air now, needed downrange now."_

Before he had finished speaking the first enemy round came in. Ajax skidded in the sand as he stopped to help the men setting up the mortar, grabbing the tube and angling it. Echo had the carry case. He slid out the white round with the black markings.

"Direct lay. One round illumination. Half load. Elevation one zero niner."

"Round up!"

Irons adjusted the charges at the base of the round.

"Round up."

"Hang it."

He slid the round into the tube and held it near the rim.

"Hangin'."

"Fire!" In one fluid motion, Irons slammed the round downwards and ducked behind the muzzle. A bright flash of light illuminated their position for a split second before the round popped high above them and lit up the entire area. They found cover behind a low wall, with the overpass and a ditch between them and the apartment block. It was already slightly damaged from the artillery, the whole structure listing to one side, lumps of concrete swaying on twisted metal rods. The few trees that were still standing were shredded and leafless. They moved forward to the first wall between them and the building. A mortar swept in and one side of the wall disappeared in a cloud of debris. White Fang troops swarmed out of the destroyed structure. Ajax was the first over the remains of the wall. On the other side was a concrete sewer ditch. There was nowhere to go except down into it. He flattened himself on the other side sheltering himself from White Fang fire. Roman jumped down behind him.

"Welcome to Vacuo, please leave the facilities in the condition you found them." A flare drifted past, illuminating a machine gun post on the second floor. Ajax poured fire into it as they ran to the side of the building.

"Frag their ass, I'll cover you. Get that grenade out."

Ajax ripped out the pin, doing a split-second check he had both the ring and the pin, and lobbed the grenade. The machine gun nest dissolved in a cloud of concrete. The Atlas ATLUV column had now advanced beneath the overpass and made a left turn into the city. A wrecked truck, half buried by rouble and debris from a ruined building, blocked the way. Ajax was fifty meters away. He could see lieutenant Blanc yelling while half a dozen men tried to remove the obstruction. Two gunners gave cover from their roof-mounted machine guns. The Atlesian soldiers wore different equipment than the Vale forces. A Black bodysuit with a few pieces of white armour that barely covered anything. Hey had protection to their head, upper chest, and their arms, leaving the gut and upper legs exposed. Roman walked up behind him.

"Dickhead shouldn't have gone ahead. What's up his ass?"

Blanc spotted them.

"You, what the fuck are you looking at? Get the fuck down here and help move this wreck now!"

They started to run over to the convoy as one of the ATLUV gunners keeled over the tell-tale shot of a sniper rang out. Blanc pointed in the direction it came from.

"Suppressive fire. Now!" Roman, Irons, Echo, and Ajax fired into the building while the men moving the pickup finally cleared the road. Blanc was already back on the Radio.

"Misfit Actual this is Brimstone actual, I need back up here right now, over." They heard Luna's reply over their headsets.

" _They're yours, over."_

Blanc pointed at Ajax, "You, your riding shotgun with me. Climb aboard soldier. Next stop Town Hall, let's go get a piece of the Ace of Clubs." Blanc seated himself behind the wheel.

"This is Brimestone actual, we're on route to Town Hall, out."

" _Brimstone Actual, this is Misfit actual, eagle eye reports personnel running in and out of the building. HVT must be secured, repeat secure, copy?"_

"Rodger, good copy. Out." Blanc glanced at Ajax, "Let's go fetch."

They rolled past another set of White Fang loudspeakers, still blasting propaganda. Blanc swerved into them and laughed as they were flattened beneath the ATLUV's wheels. The without warning a car appeared from where the road narrowed right in their path. Ajax felt himself and the ATLUV lurch forward in protest to the sudden stop.

"Ambush! Back up! Back up!" An RPG whistled overhead as fresh gunfire erupted. "Everyone fall back."

The convoy shuddered to a halt. Blanc's turret gunner poured fire into the car until it was engulfed in flames, but the bullets were still coming from the window above. Precious seconds went by as each vehicle engaged reverse, while fire rained down on them, dust in the air as tracer rounds ricocheted into the night sky. The turret gunner screamed and slumped to one side, his face gone. Blanc grabbed Ajax by the shoulder.

"Get up there private, make it count." The dead man collapsed on the seat behind Blanc as Ajax assumed the now deceased gunner's place as the ATLUV began to roll backward. Blanc was shouting into the radio again as Ajax opened up on the windows and balconies where he spotted muzzle flashes. "Misfit Actual, this is Brimstone. Encountering enemy fire. Proceeding to target location."

"Brimstone Actual. Secure ground level. Alert for HVT. Birdseye 2 is three miles away, out."

They cleared the fire area. Blanc yelled up at Ajax, "Good work up there. Now let's go cut off one head of this King Taijitu."

The ATLUVs surged forward down a parallel street to the one they had been ambushed on. Ahead smoke billowed from a seven-storey building that rose above anything else in the town by a good two stories. It had a massive crater on one side where the smoke was making its exit from. Ajax spotted Birdseye Two as a UH-60L swooped in and hovered above. The rotor wash blowing and swirling the smoke around the building. Ajax thought he could see the side doors sliding open.

" _Birdseye 2 on station. Package fast roping in, over."_ Two ropes spilled down onto the roof below the Blackhawk through the smoke. Blanc slewed the ATLUV to a stop outside the building and was out the vehicle before it had properly stopped. Ajax exited the vehicle and caught Echo, Irons, and Roman who was pointing to some cover. Joining them he took shelter behind a toppled statue.

"We're with you, Sergeant."

"Okay boys; watch for friendlies while you clear."

Most of the White Fang personnel had fled or taken cover. The lobby was strewn with a sparkling sea of broken glass and discarded files and boxes. The attempt to evacuate had failed the occupants had an for their lives instead. Some loose paper floated in the air due to the downwash of the helicopter. Above they could also hear the shouts of the men who had roped down clearing rooms as they went.

"We've got a runner on the stairs!" Ajax rushed forward as a figure exited the stairwell, hesitated and then turn to run. Blanc, distracted, missed the comment.

"Take him, Take him!" Ajax threw himself on the person and collapsed on top of him. A Binder shot out of his hands and skidded across the floor, Blanc right behind, thrust the muzzle of his MK12 rifle at the Faunus's head.

"Let me at him," Blanc ordered as he pressed a boot into the man's shoulder above his insignia.

"A Colonel? We bagged are selves a Colonel boys. Now, why don't you tell me where you were running off to in such a hurry?" Ajax left Blanc interrogating the captured White Fang officer as he walked over to where the folder the man had been carrying had ended up. Kneeling he gather it and the few pages that fell out of it together. From the sheets he picked up it appeared to be a detailed list of the White Fangs communications frequencies and callsigns.

"Sir, I think you will appreciate this." He spoke as he walked back over to Blanc and handed the Atlesian the folder. Blanc paused his interrogation for a moment to look at what he was being handed. Blanc didn't even get halfway down the first page before his eyes widened and a large smile adorned his face.

"Excellent job private, you've handed the enemy to us on a fuckin' plater. Sergeant Neige, get this back intel to command asap. As for the rest of you start ensuring this building is sweep thoroughly for any remaining White Fang and Intel."

* * *

"As you'd surely remember from the news reports after the first day of fighting, Vale forces breached the White Fang lines before the main Atlas and Mistral forces and pushed right the way to the Vacuan capital of Cassus with minimal resistance. The most common threat we faced was boiling to death the ovens that were the troop compartments in the ACVs. By the time we got to Cassus the White Fang had blown most the bridges into the city. Usually, that wouldn't be much of a problem, but White Fang AA defences prevent any aerial insertion and the cities embankments on both sides were too steep for amphibious vehicles. The few bridges that remained intact inflicted to many losses for us to take and hold them. We had to wait for backup from Atlas's Huntsmen before we attacked again." Michael finished explaining to her. She wondered how she would've handled that night her brother went through and if she had it in her to one day pull the trigger as her brother had done.

"You don't need to worry, a conflict like that between nations isn't likely to occur in the foreseeable future… although Atlas has been… it doesn't matter, the point is another operation like Sweeping Freedom isn't about to happen anytime soon. The most action you'll see if the odd Grimm attack. Not to mention I intend for Aegis to finish of the White Fang as a functioning organisation very soon." Michael said reassuringly, though he seemed to have some doubt. She remembered overhearing on the news during half term how Atlas had been pushing to be given full responsibility for the new colony on the until recently uninhabited dragon-shaped continent to the North of Snaus and West of Solitas. Atlas controlled the Northern coastline while Aegis oversaw the Southern and eastern colonies on behalf of Mistral, Vale and Vacuo, particularly over the city of New Haven where each Atlas and Aegis controlled half. It was significant as the continent had little to no Grimm.

"How did he cope with it, the killing."

"On the day itself, he was to busy to think about it like everyone else. You kind of push it to the back of your mind. For him, it hit home on the advance to Cassus where all you did was sit in the SuperAV. He felt a little guilty over it but rationalised it in the end. The brain is quite amazing like that. It can rationalize and justify any action given time and thinking." More of her professors cynical and pessimistic outlook, he seemed to see the worst in everything. Personally, she wasn't sure if it was down to experience or if he was predisposed to that outlook naturally.

"But I remember reading that the Marines took Anourach Bridge, well before any Huntsmen showed up, how come you said you were supposed to wait? I've known that much cause my brother got himself a medal." She asked as she realised what he had said earlier compared to what the VNN article had said. She knew that much as her brother had received a medal for his actions. Her parents kept it framed next to his picture over the fireplace in the living room.

"Ah yes, the Medal of Valor, For exceeding bravery in the face death. I wrote him up for that medal within the hour."

"I know the requirements for it, but what did he actually do to get it."

"Well… it went something like this…"

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

Michael wiped the sweat from his brow that was beginning to irritate him as he walked to the CP where Captain Luna was still trying to get their busted radio working. (Despite his and Aegis's smart A.I. Catherine's best efforts trying to reinvent all the stuff he remembered from Earth was proving difficult in areas despite Catherine's ability to put any supercomputer to shame). Getting their orders from the higher-ups was sketchy at best and they'd been forced to rely on runners that had been outdated since the Great War. After the last two unsuccessful attempts to take the main bridge into Cassus Captain Luna had temporarily ceased any attempts to take the bridge.

But Michael hadn't given up just yet. He'd had Roman's squad scouting out the White Fang's positions on the other side of the river along Misfits assigned sector from a safe distance. Roman had identified two weak points and using some maps provided by both the Marines and Catherine's own digging he now believed he had developed a suitable plan to infiltrate the opposing embankment and take the bridge and allow the Vale armour to roll on into the city ending the war just two weeks after it began. Probably.

Pushing open the tent flap of the CP he was welcomed by the hustle and bustle of Captain Luna looking over some maps. Some technicians and radiomen attempting to fix the radio. To the rear of the tent, the attached Air Controller was looking bored listening in on the communications of any nearby air assets, with the company not moving he had very little to do in way of coordinating close air support.

"Captian Luna, a moment of your time?" He asked.

The Captain kept looking at his maps and didn't look up when he responded, "What is Lieutenant? Make it quick."

"Sir, I believe I've found a way of taking the bridge. I've planned it out in detail and run it by my platoon and they're more than willing to go through it." Like him, the men were getting antsy with the enemy so close and wanted to be back in the action once more.

"Lieutenant, despite the broken radio you and I both know that orders are to wait for huntsmen support before attempting anything to take the bridge."

"But we both know that it will take days before they get here. They're bogged down fighting White Fang and Grimm to the North. By the time they get here the White Fang in the city will be further entrenched and will have blown one of the few bridges capable of supporting our armoured vehicles. Not to mention the Grimm that will be attracted to all the conflict."

"You think I'm unaware of that fact Lieutenant? If it weren't for the broken radio I'd be breathing down commands neck about the necessity to take the bridge, Council be damned. But as it is we just have to deal with the cards were dealt. Oum knows how frustrating the whole thing is."

"At least hear the plan out. Even if we don't use it now we could implement it at a later date." He pleaded. Captain Luna looked conflicted for a moment before letting out a sigh of resignation. Michael could guess the man was genuine in his desire to take the bridge sooner rather than later. Misfit Company had been lucky so far, taking only one fatality and a little more than a dozen wounded with one in critical condition. The longer they stayed the higher the casualties would be.

"Fine, but make it good." Luna relented.

"Yes sir," Michael said as he moved over to Luna's maps on the plywood table.

"I had Roman and his boys scout down towards Haymaker's position where the river widens. He identified a few new machine gun positions and a potential sniper nest. He also spotted that one of the sewer pipes Iron Cover plates have corroded enough that they could be removed without much difficulty," Michael said pointing it's location on the map, "I did some digging and found the sewer maps for Cassus." Captain Luna raised an eyebrow at that, probably wondering where he'd managed to find it but didn't ask any questions yet.

"Laying the sewer maps over the street maps we have revealed that there is a manhole about a block away from Anourach bridge down an alley. A small team could use this to infiltrate behind White Fang lines. Then they can either take out White Fang positions we've already marked and allowed the rest of the company to secure the bridge or the company launches a diversionary attack then the team silences the positions. Either way, we'd end up with the bridge undamaged in our hands."

"Hypothetically when would you be able to launch such an operation?" inquired Luna

"Speaking hypothetically, tonight." Luna seemed to look back at the map going over the presented plan in his head.

"This plan seems reminiscent of something Special Forces would do. This isn't something grunts would undertake usually. And there's a few obstacles and contingencies that we'll have to go over first. But this could work."

At about nineteen hundred hours the sun was starting its descent over the horizon casting Cassus and the besieging Vale forces in an orange glow. Michael jumped down into the trench that'd been dug a few days ago. The Marines of Misfit 3-1 looked up eagerly at him.

"Well?" asked Roman, cigar in hand.

"Greenlight. We'll be moving into position at twenty-two hundred hours for mission start at twenty-three hundred hours. Make sure to bring a few extra mags. If you need to, scrounge them off the rest of the company. Misfit 3-2 and 3-3 will move in to support us before we attack the White Fang positions. The Company's mortars are going to lay down smoke down the length of the embankment to give us cover. They will lay down continues fire for fifteen minutes. During that time, we will have to cross the river and blow the iron cover plates on the sewer entrance. The sound of the mortars should cover our entry. Once inside we will proceed to the manhole cover where we wait until zero-hundred hours. After that, we exit the sewer and make our way to staging point Alpha if that route is blocked we go to staging point Bravo or Charlie. I radio Captain Luna to start the attack. The White Fang will be too distracted by his advance on the bridge to notice us sliding the knife into their backs. Finally remember, Faunus can see in the dark often better than our NVGs, the night won't provide the cover you'll think it will. Any questions?"

"How is Captain Luna explaining this to command if at all?" Ajax asked.

"The mortars will be trying to take out the sniper nest you spotted. Beyond that explaining how we either took or failed to take the bridge is going to be what it looks like. While the radio to command is broken it's unlikely that it would fly as an excuse. We are very much ignoring orders, stupid as they may be, we are supposed to wait for Huntsmen after all."

"Damn council's worried that the fuckin' huntsmen won't get any glory if we do all the work," Irons interjected.

"More like they don't want the armed forces to have a decent reason to stick around when they'd rather have Huntsmen to do the fighting." Murmurs of quiet agreement rose up. It was no secret to those in the forces that the various councils from the Kingdoms bar Atlas were switching over to rely on huntsmen and have a small reserve force. In essence, especially for the Vale military, it was their last Hoorah before they were consigned to the annals of history.

The Vale council had already passed the bill to downsize Vales total military size to ten thousand from its total of six hundred thousand. Yet still Vale was the smallest, Mistral had a far larger army, more so than Atlas due to its large size and population. It was laying off over eight hundred thousand personnel over the next three years. To put it simply large militaries weren't needed with no kingdoms to fight and Huntsmen were more effective fighting Grimm. Especially when a single Huntsmen team could take out an entire division with the right training a semblance that they often tended to have. It had always staggered Michael how the four kingdoms with their tiny populations had managed to keep such large armies around. Then again the threat of the Grimm and ever-present bandits would warrant such large standing forces.

"Then let's show those fuckers that the Marines are still the deadliest motherfuckers out there. We'll take that bridge. We'll take this city. And there isn't a damn thing any glory hound huntsmen or pencil pushing councilman can do about that."

* * *

 _Time Skip_

The smell of the sewer seemed to waft through the shemgah Michael had wrapped around his face to keep out the worst of the stench. It was almost midnight everyone was in position on his part. In one mike, Misfit 3-1 would emerge from the sewer and converge on the bridge. The sewer lacked any light natural or otherwise and the bright beams of the standard issue flashlights were all that kept them from sure footing or a misstep from a face full of putrid sewer water. A nervous anticipation seemed to exude from the men stuck in the sewer as the seconds ticked down. He made one final look at his watch as the second hand approached the minute mark. He tapped Roman on the shoulder as he passed signaling it was time.

He grabbed hold of the railings and began to climb up and out to the manhole cover about ten metres above. After exiting the sewer shaft which was wide enough for a man to comfortable stand either side of the channel that ran down the centre the tight space he now found himself in left much to be desired. Climbing as far as he could before his helmet hit the manhole cover he stopped. Keeping both feet planted firmly on the railings, he leaned his back against the wall to ensure he didn't fall as he used both hands to gently and quietly move the manhole cover. As he did so the cracks of reflected light from the remaining half moon and few working street lights entered his vision as blinded him as his eyes adjusted to the change of light.

Looking around he could see the alley was devoid of other life. A few large bins, bits of the rouble and an emergency fire exit was all that could be seen. Unable to find any hostile presences he motioned to Roman below to start bringing the rest of the platoon up to join him. Michael took up position a metre away from the now open manhole behind a bin, rifle facing the visible street. One by one the forty-three marines below made their way topside and took up position in the alley.

When everyone was topside Michael signaled for the platoon to move out. Roman's rifle squad covered the others entrance to the street from the cover of the alley. Sergeant Starling's squad took the right side of the road adjacent to the alley while Sergeant Azure with himself covered the left. They moved quickly and quietly, keeping an eye on the windows, junctions, and alleys where White Fang could be hiding. Faunus had superior sight, smell, and hearing, things that had the mostly human unit at a disadvantage. In the distance, Michael could hear the sound of a jet engine and distant echoes of machine gun fire, likely another skirmish erupting and a swift airstrike to end it.

Within a couple of minutes, they had reached staging point Alpha. A crossroad that led to the heart of the city and Anourach bridge only twenty meters to their direct left. Each squad knew their assigned job. Roman's squad would attack from the right flank, Starling's squad would strike from the left flank while Azure's squad acted as a rear guard to make sure any enemy reinforcements could assist their forces guarding the bridge.

"Misfit Actual, this Misfit 3-1. In position and ready. Repeat, in position and ready, over."

" _Copy Misfit 3-1, commencing assault now. Good luck. Misfit Actual out."_

Three illumination rounds light up the darkened area. A bright flickering glow descended from three slowly falling stars. Michael and the entire city were able to hear the SAW gunners and machine gunners light up the marked White Fang positions followed by the concentrated rifle fire of the company's other two platoons. That was their signal. Twenty-nine Marines of Misfit Three-Three sprang into gear and made their way towards the bridges defences. There were three buildings that had to be cleared on each side of the road facing the river and the hastily constructed barricade at the mouth of the bridge. Both squads made their way down the sides of the street, the point men selecting their targets that had taken refuge and were firing from the barricade. The echoes of the L85A3s firing from behind them caught the White Fang soldiers off guard. Several fell before the survivors could turn to attack the Marines.

By now most of them to squads had opened up on any White Fang in the open, the 7.62mm ammunition ensuring that even if they had a small amount of aura they would still go down. Michael spotted a White Fang grunt appear on a rooftop to see what was going on. Michael quickly turned and fired off three shots before the Faunus could react, the masked man collapsing onto the roof. With the Faunus on the barricades had been dealt with it still left the ones in the buildings, where all the machine guns were located.

Michael stacked up on the door to the first building among Staling's squad. The breacher, a large Faunus Marine nicknamed 'Grizzly' from both his size and animal trait, unslung his M104 shotgun and kicked the rickety wooden door. The door offered no resistance, it barely staying attached to its hinges anyway, and swung inwards, the bottom hinge becoming unfixed and broken causing it to tilt. The Marines quickly entered the two-storey building. While Grizzly and the marine in behind him checked the room to the left, the rest of the squad moved past them, half headed through to the kitchen while the other half and Michael moved up the stairs. Two White Fang appeared from the room facing the street on first floor about the same time the lead Marine 'Domino' popped up. Unfortunately for them, the Marine was ready for them and unleashed his rifle's clip into both men.

This alerted the remaining White Fang upstairs of their intrusion as they seemed to emerge from all the rooms like a swarm of disturbed bees. Domino and Lucky cleared the room in front of the stairs while Sergeant Starling and Flint bogged down by the emerging White Fang coming out of the room the rear of the corridor. Flint unclipped an M67 frag grenade and threw it through the door frame. A loud bang and yells of pain could be heard as Starling and Flint moved to clear the room as some calls of 'clear' rang up from downstairs. That left Michael and PFC Doe to clear the street facing room where the noise of a heavy machine gun could be heard rattling off.

Taking up position in front of the door, he gave it a good kick next to the lock and the door swung in. His rifle moved as he did. From facing the wall in front of him to sweeping right towards where the machine gun was as he moved int the room, Doe coming up behind him but sweeping left. Michael fired twice, once for the machine gun operator and once for the rifleman next to him firing from the window. To the wall facing the corridor, he'd come from he noticed a rat hole large enough for a person to easily crouch through to the room Domino and Lucky were in, but not any more people.

"Clear!" He called out and heard the others doing so for their rooms. That was the first of the three buildings they had to clear on their side in order to establish a viable beachhead. Walking back out into the corridor he and Doe re-joined Domino and Lucky and made their way to Sergeant Starling and Flint as gunfire could be heard coming from their room. On the way Michael could have sworn he stepped over a bloody dismembered arm. They found Starling and flint firing through a hole in the wall that led into the second building which was ended quickly with another usage of M67 grenades. Clearing the next two houses followed a rinse and repeat of the first. Half the Marines would clear to first floor and the other would clear the ground floor, though the White Fang were more prepared for them having heard the shootout from the first house. Lucky lived up to his name when a Fang grunt opened up on him from a hole in the roof of the third building. His armoured inserts in his vest kept him safe except from one shot that went through his gut, which missed anything too vital.

With the left flank silenced half the mission objective had been accomplished, but a lone machinegun fire could still be heard coming from the right flank.

"Sergeant ensure this flank is secured. I'm going to see what's holding up Roman."

"Understood sir. Right boys you heard the Lt, let's have this place locked down for when Captain Luna gets over here." Michael left as a Corpsman tended to Lucky while Starling ordering his men about as he jogged over to the first building on the right. A cursory glance to Misfit Three-One and Two were showed they had pushed onto the bridge and were halfway across put were pinned down. He had reached the other side of the crossroad when he saw Roman and seven others coming out of the building looking worse for wear, one was being dragged out missing both his legs below the knee leaving a stream of blood.

"What the fuck happened in there," Michael asked Roman as the Corpsman began to patch up the wounded Marine.

"Huntsmen. We only managed to get to the second building. She got Baker and Ox, I didn't see what happened to Bull but I assume he's dead as well. We managed to get Robin out, fortunately"

"And Ajax?" Michael asked not being able to see him nor had Roman mentioned him among the casualties

"He's right ther-" The sound of an L85A3 firing from the first floor of the second building could be heard.

"Is he still in there!" Roman yelled.

"I thought he was right behind Gaz?"

"He should have been, he was covering us from the door when I passed him, tapped him on the shoulder and everything!" The sound of a grenade going off could be heard and some bricks and glass were sent out down onto the street below.

"Son of a Bitch! On me Marines, we're getting him out of there!" Michael said before rushing over to the entrance of the second building not waiting for the others. He could still hear Ajax firing above, but it was hard to tell what room it was coming from. He could see signs of a large bladed weapon by the damage it had done to the walls. He powered on up the stairs and spotted the bolt-hole in the side of the wall Roman's squad has used as the entry point into the second building. Passing through he found the bodies of two Faunus. He heard the sound of Ajax rifle but it was now coming from the third building, he also heard the sound of a much higher calibre round being fired as well.

He could see a section of the shared wall between the two houses had been demolished, by what he wasn't sure. As he hurried over to it he could make out a few White Fang corpses on the other side as he passed a pair of unattached legs in Marine desert MARPAT camo. Ducking under a piece of plaster that dangled from the remaining intact wall he encountered a scene of dead White Fang, spent shell casings and blood. Unlike the previous buildings he'd been in he found himself standing in a large open area with a smaller rectangular room in the far corner, likely a cupboard or toilet and a larger room to his right where the sounds of two people scuffling could be heard. The MG fire having shortly dropped off a few seconds ago after another explosion.

"Friendly coming in." He announced as he passed through the shattered door. The room looked like a bomb had gone off in it, his time in the Sandbox back on Earth had him well acquainted with such occurrences. He spotted Ajax and rushed over to him and pulled off the dead Huntress who had a KABAR jammed in her neck, her weapon being a Nodachi laying a few feet away. He turned his attention back to Ajax who was laying on the floor propped up by his assault pack. He was covered in cuts and dust with a particularly bad looking gash on his left leg. He could tell Ajax was breathing which was a small mercy after the man had soloed an MG nest guarded by a few now dead Faunus and a Huntress.

"You still with me buddy. Ajax, how are you feeling."

"Lt?"

"Yeah, buddy it's me."

"Did I get her?"

"The Huntress? Yeah, you got her." Roman and his surviving squad burst into the room.

"The fuck took you so long," Michael asked.

"Wasn't really expecting you to go charging off into a Huntress infested building. Took a second to sink in." Roman answered sheepishly, "How's Ajax."

"Just killed a Huntress sir, I think I'm doing fine." Ajax said with his trademark smile, though Michael could tell from his grimace that 'fine' was really the correct term.

"Roman secure the building and make sure we're ready for the rest of the company."

"Roger sir. Ajax, stay alive long enough to by you some beers back in Vale ya hear." Roman said in his usual carefree tone.

"Yes, sir."

"Roman, don't forget to get a Corpsman here stat." Roman gave him an affirmative nod before exiting the room.

"Sir?" he heard Ajax say a little strained.

"What?" He asked turning back to face him.

"I think she nicked me." Michael looked down at Ajax and noticed he was clutching his side, soaking his Oakley pilot gloves, under-armour shirt and plate carrier vest a dark red.

"Corpsman!"

* * *

"He was fortunate that that Huntress didn't hit anything critical and the blade didn't cut to deep. He spent two weeks recovering in a field hospital before he was back out there for the last weeks of his deployment… not that he ever was able to finish it…" So that's how her brother got the medal, nearly dying but taking out an enemy position and Huntress while covering his squads retreat to take a bridge, "After that it took a couple days of clearing street by street, house to house from the South East to the North West of the city, costliest bit of the war for us. We got away with the whole thing because everyone up in command bar the Council was unhappy about waiting for Huntsmen support before going in. It was about that time Roman took a bad hit to the chest, had to be flown back to Vale for treatment."

"What were his injuries?" Michael assumed she was referring to her brother rather than to Roman.

"Minor concussion. Multiple cuts and grazes. A stab wound to the gut and upper left leg and plenty of bruises. Nothing too serious in the end, always seemed to be more concerned about us than himself. Visited him a few times, each time he'd seem to be writing to you. How he was able to write so much in each letter I don't know. He'd often talk to us about what you and your parents were doing, he was very proud and happy to hear you made it into Signal Academy, seemed he'd never shut up about how his little sister was going to be an amazing Huntress. He would be proud of seeing the huntress your growing up to be from the teacher reports I've read." Coco smiled a little at that. Not because how much her brother would be proud of her now, she already knew that much. But at how he'd been more concerned over others than himself. It was one of the things that had inspired her to become a Huntress, she was happy to hear that his time fighting hadn't changed that.

"But how did he… you know…." She didn't trust herself to finish that question.

Her professor let out a sigh, "I suppose this little tale was inevitable sooner or later. As you know the White Fang hadn't realised they had been beaten or chose to ignore that fact. So two months later we were still in Vacuo…"

* * *

It was a hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit inside the Stryker and the smell wasn't getting any better. The shift had just stretched into its thirty-second hour, which would do nothing to improve the personal hygiene of the inmates in full kit: Kevlar helmets, bullet-resistant glasses, heat-resistant gloves, body armour, knee pads, elbow pads, 240 rounds of ammunition for their L85A3s in pouches attached to the body armour. It was like being in an armour-plated coffin, but not so spacious. Up until a few weeks ago, they'd been leaving the body kits at the base. But things had changed.

Michael reached up and lifted one of the hatches, then another. It didn't produce much of a breeze, however, as they were keeping to a steady 25 miles an hour. In the early days, they used to go full pelt, until it became clear that they stood a better chance of avoiding trouble if they saw it before they drove into it. He put his head out and squinted at the sun-bleached landscape around them. It had been a month since outright war had devastated Cassus but the damage remained despite the massive clean-up operation. None of the billions of Lien spent on reconstruction had made a difference, or if it had the myriad layers of middlemen and subcontractors had got there first. The sheer number of them made your head spin. They all creamed off their cut, producing paperwork for men who were never hired, buildings that were never built. True, a few roads had been resurfaced, sewers re-laid, but after a few months, they all sank back into the same state of decrepitude as before.

Any unrest and the first casualty after the local population was the infrastructure. They passed the remains of a freshly-shelled gas depot, whole sections of concrete hanging by the rusting steel reinforcement rods. Two small children in nothing but T-shirts were throwing small rocks at nothing in particular from the top of a mound of rubble. Half a dozen goats looked on, grazing in the carcase of the depot.

Irons was mid-story. "... And I'm, like, on station ready for deployment, and she says, 'Honey do you have any protection?' so I say, 'Baby I left my rifle home, but if you wanna see it I'll go get it ...'"

No one responded. They'd all heard it at least twice before.

Ajax reverted to his favourite refrain.

"I mean, who even wants to be here? TV says soldiers want to be here. Where they get that from? Make folks feel better? Maybe if you wanting to get your star, make some rank. All we want is get the fuck outta here, right LT? Heck, even the civvies back home don't want us here!"

Michael shrugged, not because he didn't have an answer: he just didn't want to have this conversation right now. He was thinking about the email home he would write tonight. Dear Indigo, Today was 115 F. That's the hottest we've had. He spent another ten minutes trying to come up with the next line. Three positives. That was his rule. The school they built just by the base has opened. He'd leave out the fact that no kids had turned up, that the deputy head had become the head because the original head had been shot in front of his family. He couldn't think of two more positives right now. He abandoned that and considered writing to Indigo. Perhaps she'd take it the wrong way, think he was in doubt. Then again she had stopped writing to him a while ago. Whether it was down to the anti-war sentiment (that was beginning to resemble the Vietnam war's own) or because she had opted to not wait for him to get back, he wasn't really looking forward to the end of deployment.

He had been counting the days to when they were due to go home, crossing off the days on a grid he had drawn in the back of his log. Since last week he'd stopped. Home didn't seem to be getting any closer. His radio squawked: Captain Luna.

" _Misfit 1-3 this is Misfit actual. Listen up. We lost contact with Starling's squad in grid eight zero, ten klicks west. You're the only element I got to send. Last known position the Old Meat Market. Bad freaking part of town. You're the closest people we've got. Go find 'em, got that?"_

"1-3. Copy that."

Starling was out of contact. That could only mean something bad.

Michael looked at the crew. They'd all heard the order on their headsets. No one spoke for a few seconds, as if they were conserving every last grain of energy.

"So, anyone else don't get what we're doing here?" Emerald was off on her high school debating society riff again. She had replaced Grizzly when he had his leg blown off by an IED. Michael wished she would shut up and just do her job. He was tired, and this was making him feel more tired.

"Quit being a fucking hippie, Em." Ajax ripped the wrapper off a stick of gum and folded it into his mouth.

Emerald loosened her grip on her weapon.

"All I'm saying is we're here to keep a lid on things, not start a fucking war with Menagerie."

"The White Fang's not Menagerie."

"Man, we have been over this a hunnert times." Irons put his hands over his face.

Michael continued. "They're in Menagerie though, because that's where they're coming from. And Menagerie is Faunus nation. Invading there will start a shit storm even the Schnee lawyers won't fix"

"You got that now, Em, you fucking tree hugger? We want your opinion, we'll give it to you. All right?"

Michael hoped this wasn't going to evolve into something full-blown and personal between Ajax and Emerald. Debating the relative merits of twin cheerleaders or a one-on-one with the new Mistrali princess was a pleasantly pointless diversion. Questioning their entire purpose in this hellhole could develop into a discipline problem.

The whole place was sinking back into chaos. Then again that wouldn't be too different from the Vacuo before the war.

Most of them had now served in the same platoon for eighteen months and for three of them they had been to war. They were family. But the terms of engagement had changed. They'd gone in thinking they'd be the only deployment in the area, and Ajax wasn't the only one whose patience was running out. The whole place was sinking back into chaos. Emerald was becoming the target for his frustration, and Michael didn't blame her. Privately, he knew she had a point. Starling's Stryker had gone silent and they had no choice but to go look for it. It's what you did. What you didn't do was sit in a 104-degree sardine can discussing it like a bunch of liberals on Question Time.

He raised his voice a notch.

"Look at me. Em, This is our job."

"Yeah, baby."

"I hear that."

Michael raised a hand.

"And to finish the job, we gotta deal with the White Fang. And to do that, sooner or later we may have to go cross the border."

Ajax opened his mouth to speak, but Micahel silenced him with a look.

They dismounted from the Stryker and fanned out. The Old Meat Market was an old cloistered building with a gallery on the upper level. A week ago, it had been swarming with activity. Today it was deserted: not a good sign. Ajax tapped Michael on the shoulder. "Check this out."

A freshly-painted mural of Eimlaq Khan, the local White Fang leader. A good likeness, Micahel thought: someone had taken their time.

"They're sainting him here. He's their man, now." Emerald was next to them. The artist had given the White Fang General a fierce glare of certainty. "Dude looks like he means business."

"Jerkoff. It's just a painting. He's gotta be as old as your granny. They just left out the wheelchair."

"Ever ask yourself how this part of the world got so fucked up all the time?"

"Hey, I just work here, Emerald. Other people work that shit out."

Emerald persisted. "How long before we rolling ourselves into Menagerie?"

Micahel waved them forward. "That's way above my pay grade. Let's go find this patrol."

"But you would know though sir. Your in contact with the heads of every Kingdom's military with all your arms sales." Michael chose to ignore her questions for now.

Ten minutes later they were questioning the locals for anything they'd seen. An old man was squatting in a doorway. Emerald was crouched down, talking, her weapon pushed behind her shoulder, out of the way. He held up ten fingers, made fists, then another ten, and then another ten, then mimed using a machine gun. To give him his due, he was trying to be useful.

"He's saying there were thirty, all armed. Came through half an hour ago." She turned back to the old man. "Thank you, Sir."

"Thanks, I'll take it from here."

Micahel leaned down, continued in the old Vacuoian tongue.

"Were they White Fang?"

The old man shrugged.

"Local boys?"

He shook his head, although it could have been more of a tremor, and pointed at the westward gate of the market.

"Well, let's go the way the man says."

The gate led into a narrow street of three-storey buildings. Micahel heard a couple of shutters close and a baby crying. A pick-up truck lay sideways across the street, the front fender torn away as if it had been swiped by a much heavier vehicle and in a hurry.

Micahel signaled to the others to hug the walls. "Big cross street here, exposed."

They all heard the rumble at the same time. Tracked vehicle. Micahel flattened himself against the corner wall and peered round. He saw the vehicle nose out of a gateway, a block up the cross street, and turn left, moving away at patrol speed.

Black got on the radio.

"APC, no markings, headed north, taking its time like it owns the place."

"That's some serious metal."

"Flag him down, ask what side he's on."

"Shut up Em. Take a right up that street, where he just came from."

They crossed the road in twos.

"Keep it moving!"

"So quiet it's like they got the whole place on lockdown."

"Or the Pied Piper's just been through."

"I don't like this shit."

"OK, that's a Combat Indicator. Take it slowly guys."

The side street the APC came from was narrow, a chasm of tall buildings with overhanging upper storeys, throwing it into dark shadow. At the other end, it opened into a small plaza. A group of women were huddled down behind wicker baskets in a deep doorway near the plaza entrance. They were waving them forward, pointing upwards.

"OK, let's not do what the lady says just yet. Get visual on the rooftops."

They froze, scanning the rooftops and every shuttered window. Michael saw the silhouetted figure first, just as the masonry beside him shattered. "Sniper! Cover, cover!"

Michael wheeled round just in time to see Ajax's shoulder explode. "Man down. Smoke cover. Now!"

Irons tossed a white phosphorous grenade to block the sniper while Michael and Emerald grabbed Ajax and pulled him into a doorway, but he didn't want to go, wrestling them with his dissipating strength. "Get me back up. I can still shoot. Let me at him, the fucker."

"Easy soldier."

Irons was screaming down the radio.

"Fucking smoke. I had visuals on three more!"

The wound was bloody and deep. Michael had to stop Ajax getting to his feet. He swayed, then grinned. "I'm fucked up but I'm not down. Let me at 'em." Michael didn't agree, he saw a lot of blood, more than a simple entry should have.

Through the smoke, ahead, Emerald loosed off a mag at the rooftop where Ajax's sniper had been. Paused, waited.

As the smoke cleared, Michael saw the sniper fold upon himself and drop like a bad guy in a Western. The body thumped into the street ten feet from Irons, who stood in a doorway. But he didn't react. He was static, staring ahead into the plaza. Something about his stance, weapon down, told Michael that Irons had seen something he was going to have trouble forgetting. Without altering his gaze he beckoned to Michael.

"Think we've found what we came for."

"Em, get a CASEVAC for Ajax. It's bad and he needs to get to a hospital. Stay with him and make sure to keep the pressure on his wound, the bullet must have hit something important with the amount of blood he's losing." He ordered as he went to see what Irons had found.

Two dead marines were sprawled at the gates to the plaza. One, helmet gone, face half off, looked like he'd been closest to an RPG. The other, a wide red crater in his chest, had a pensive look in his eyes, which were fixed on the blazing sky. Michael leaned down, took the tags off one, then the other, and pushed them into his top pocket. "Fuck this day."

"LT, look up!"

Irons was first into the plaza. Bodies and body parts had been thrown in all directions. The Stryker was on its side, its ramp down and its tyres on fire, with all eight wheels, twisted at different angles. Close by was the chassis of what might have been a small truck or bus, the bodywork vaporised by the IED it had been carrying. A low, rhythmic groaning was coming from inside the Stryker.

Irons was already on the radio ordering a second CASEVAC, trying to keep his rage under control as the voice on the other end pressed him for more detail, eventually exploding. "Just get the fuck here yesterday, okay?"

Michael could already hear the rhythmic sound of a helicopter, hopefully, the CASEVAC for Ajax. The profile of the HH-60L Blackhawk MEDEVAC chopper. It moved in to hover over the plaza, there not being enough room to land, its rotors whipping up a storm of sand and dust. Michael saw a rope being dropped down and two men slide down to ground level. Pararescue by the looks of it.

"Where's the patient!?" asked one of them of the roar of the engine.

"I've got a man back there in critical condition and bleeding out and possibly some more in the Stryker."

"We've got enough fuel to pick up one man, we'll take your man."

"This way."

* * *

"From what I understand the bullet went through his subclavian artery, bled out in minutes and died in transit." Michael eyed Coco's reaction. Solemn face and quiet, not really looking at anything, gazing towards the floor. She had to deal with her brother's premature death once before, now she had learned of how. While he appreciated and valued what snipers did it seemed an unfitting way for such a promising marine to go out after surviving a Huntress. There was no last stand, no struggle against overwhelming odds. Instead, a cowardly terrorist sniper had nicked him. Michael couldn't attest for caring about a lot of things, but he cared for those he served within the forces, especially those under his command. It was one of his more obvious weaknesses.

He glanced at his watch, it was later than he expected, midnight. _Shit,_ he thought, he had half an hour before he had to meet up with Ozpin and his cronies. As much as Coco likely wanted to, she would not be able to stay and question him any further tonight if he wished to make it to Ozpin's meeting.

"Thank you, Professor, you've told me more than my own family. If you wouldn't mind… would I be allowed to continue to talk about him…? Like… similar times like tonight but… later this week…?"

"Not a problem, I'm usually free between twenty-two hundred hours and twenty-three hundred hours. Does that work for you?"

"Yeah, once again, thanks," she stood up and stretched while letting out a yawn, "My teams probably wondering where I am, don't want to let them get too worried. Or start any rumours." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, back to her old persona.

"No, we wouldn't want that, would we. Goodnight miss Adel." Michael said, opening the door for her.

"Good night, _professor_. And you can call me Coco." Michael shook his head at her antics.

"Oh, before you go," he said, causing her to turn around with a curious look on her face, "Here. Your brother would've probably liked you to have them."

As he said that he materialised her brother's dog-tags in his hand. She took them gingerly and held them in one open hand as the other traced over the top like they were the most delicate thing in the world.

"These were his." She stated more than asked.

"Yeah, I carry more of them than I like too." His mind flicked back to all the times he'd taken dog-tags off a dead serviceman. It's why he emphasised designs that prioritised survivability above all else. From trophy systems to remote operated vehicles and aircraft. It was a similar mentality to Atlas that was switching over to a large drone air, sea and land forces, thousands of mass producible robots that already outnumbered their own frontline organic troops. Michael had toyed with the idea but unlike Atlas had gone down the path of using robots and A.I. automation in more support roles than combat.

He was shaken from his thoughts by Coco wrapping him in a brief but strong hug, "Thank you, professor."

A little overwhelmed he tentatively returned the hug.

"You can call me Michael when were alone." He relented, if they were going to have these conversations it was going to be a tad weird her calling him professor all the time.

"Only if you call me Coco." She said breaking the hug.

"Only when we're alone."

"Right. See ya… Michael." As he watched her go, he realised that Ozpin would likely be chewing him out for the manner he dealt with team CRDL at dinner. He was not looking forward to that.

* * *

' **Democracy protest broken up by troops, Hundreds feared dead.' – The Drachen Times.**

According to reports coming out of Drachen Colonies, a pro-democracy demonstration on the Atlas controlled side of New Haven was savagely broken up by Atlas Soldiers, and Huntsmen, who had taken over when police, and border guards had failed to disperse the crowd.

Eyewitness reports from South New Haven police officers, and personnel of the Aegis Corporation forces in South New Haven, report that the utmost violence was employed, including the use of firearms against unarmed demonstrators, hundreds of whom were said to have been killed.

The three Aegis infantry brigades stationed in South New Haven have been put on full alert, all police leave in the Southern sector has been canceled, and hospitals have been prepared to receive casualties.

So far there has been no comment from the Atlas Council, or Atlas Colonial Authority.

* * *

 _ **Aegis Codex Entry**_

 _ **UH-60 Blackhawk**_ _: The UH-60 comes in many variants, and many different modifications. The variants can be fitted with the stub wings to carry additional fuel tanks or weapons. Variants may have different capabilities and equipment to fulfill different roles. Utility variants:_

 _ **UH-60C Black Hawk** : Modified version for Command and control (C2) missions._

 _ **UH-60L Black Hawk** : UH-60A with upgraded T700-GE-701C engines, improved durability gearbox, and updated flight control system. UH-60Ls are also equipped with the GE T700-GE-701D engine. They carry a crew of four and up to 11 equipped troops._

 _ **UH-60V Black Hawk** : Upgraded version of the UH-60L with the electronic displays (glass cockpit) of the UH-60M. Upgrades feature a centralized processor with a partitioned, modular operational flight program enabling capabilities to be added as software-only modifications._

 _ **UH-60M Black Hawk** : Improved design wide chord rotor blades, T700-GE-701D engines (max 2,000 shp or 1,500 kW each), improved durability gearbox, Integrated Vehicle Health Management System (IVHMS) computer, and a new glass cockpit._

 _Special purpose:_

 _ **EH-60A Black Hawk** : UH-60L with modified electrical system and stations for two electronic systems mission operators. All examples of type have been converted back to standard UH-60A configuration._

 _ **YEH-60B Black Hawk** : UH-60L modified for special radar and avionics installations, prototype for stand-off target acquisition system._

 _ **EUH-60L** : UH-60L modified with additional mission electronic equipment for Army Airborne C2._

 _ **EH-60L Black Hawk** : EH-60A with a major mission equipment upgrade._

 _ **UH-60Q Black Hawk** : UH-60A modified for medical evacuation. The UH-60Q is named DUSTOFF for "dedicated unhesitating service to our fighting forces"._

 _ **HH-60L** (no official name assigned): UH-60L extensively modified with medical mission equipment. Components include an external rescue hoist, integrated patient configuration system, environmental control system, on-board oxygen system (OBOGS), and crashworthy ambulatory seats._

 _ **HH-60M Black Hawk** : UH-60M with medical mission equipment (medevac version)._

 _ **HH-60U** : UH-60M version modified with an electro-optical sensor and rescue hoist. Three in use by Air Force pilots and special mission aviators. Has 85% commonality with HH-60W._

 _ **HH-60W** : Modified version of the UH-60M for a Combat Rescue Helicopter to replace HH-60G Pave Hawks with greater fuel capacity and more internal cabin space, dubbed the "60-Whiskey". Deliveries to begin in 2019._

 _Aeromedical configuration:_

 _ **MH-60K Black Hawk** : Special operations modification first ordered for use by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ("Night Stalkers"). Equipped with the in-flight refueling probe, and T700-GE-701C engines. More advanced than MH-60L, the K-model also includes an integrated avionics system (glass cockpit), AN/APQ-174B terrain-following radar, color weather map, improved weapons capability, and various defensive systems._

 _ **MH-60L Black Hawk** : Special operations modification, used by the U.S. Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ("Night Stalkers"), based on the UH-60L with T700-701C engines. It was developed as an interim version pending fielding of the MH-60K. Equipped with many of the systems used on MH-60K, including FLIR, colour weather map, auxiliary fuel system, and laser rangefinder/designator. A total of 37 MH-60Ls were built and some 10 had received an in-flight refueling probe._

 _ **MH-60L DAP** : The Direct Action Penetrator (DAP) is a special operations modification of the baseline MH-60L, operated by the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The DAP is configured as a gunship, with no troop-carrying capacity. The DAP is equipped with ESSS or ETS stub wings, each capable of carrying configurations of the M230 Chain Gun 30 mm automatic cannon, 19-shot Hydra 70 rocket pod, AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, AIM-92 Stinger air-to-air missiles, GAU-19 gun pods, and M134 minigun pods M134D miniguns are used as door guns._

 _ **MH-60M Black Hawk** : Special operations version of UH-60M. Features the Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture System (CAAS) glass cockpit and more powerful YT706-GE-700 engines. All special operations Black Hawks to be modernized to MH-60M standard._

 _ **MH-60 Black Hawk stealth helicopter** : Reports state that the Black Hawk destroyed was a previously unconfirmed, but rumoured, modification of the design with reduced noise signature and stealth technology. The modifications are said to add several hundred pounds to the base helicopter including edge alignment panels, special coatings and anti-radar treatments for the windshields._

 _ **OPBH** : The first flight demonstration of their Optionally Piloted Black Hawk (OPBH), a milestone part of the company's Manned/Unmanned Resupply Aerial Lifter (MURAL) program to provide autonomous cargo delivery. The helicopter used the company's Matrix technology (software to improve features of autonomous, optionally-piloted VTOL aircraft) to perform autonomous hover and flight operations under the control of an operator using a man-portable Ground Control Station (GCS). The purpose of creating an optionally-manned Black Hawk is to make the aircraft autonomously carry out resupply missions and expeditionary operations, while increasing sorties and maintaining crew rest requirements and leaving pilots to focus more on sensitive operations._

 _ **Iveco SuperAV**_ _;_ _ACV-A1 (Personnel)_ _: This is the most common AV, as it carries a turret equipped with an M2HB .50 calibre heavy machine gun, and a Mk19 40mm automatic grenade launcher. It carries four crew radios as well as the AN/VIC-2 intercom system. It is capable of carrying 12 combat-equipped Marines in addition to the crew of 1._

 ** _ACVC-A1 (Command)_** _: This vehicle does not have a turret, and much of the cargo space of the vehicle is occupied by communications equipment. This version only has two crew radios, and in addition to the VIC-2, it also carries two VRC-92s, a VRC-89, a PRC-103 UHF radio, an MRC-83 HF radio and the MSQ internetworking system used to control the various radios. This AV has a crew of 3, and additionally carries 5 radio operators, three staff members, and two commanding officers. Recently, the C7 has been upgraded to use Harris Falcon II class radios, specifically the PRC-117 for VHF/UHF/SATCOM, and the PRC-150 for HF._

 ** _ACVR-A1 (Recovery)_** _: This vehicle also does not have a turret. The R7 is considered the "wrecker", as it has a crane as well as most tools and equipment needed for field repairs. It is by far the heaviest of the three and sits considerably lower in the water. Crew of three, not including the repairmen._

 _ **L85A3** :_ _The MK 17 Mod 0 SCAR-H is a 7.62mm x 51mm carbine / assault / sniper rifle. The MK 17 comes in 3 flavours - the Standard, with a 16-inch barrel, the CQC with a 13-inch barrel and the LB with a 20-inch barrel. The barrels are designed to be easily exchanged to alter the weapon's role ie from sniper rifle, to battle rifle, to CQB weapon. The MK 17 features 4 Picatinny rails (top, sides and bottom) which can mount any MIL-STD-1913-compatible accessories such as optics, foregrips and a MK 13 40mm grenade launcher. The MK 17 Mod 0 is complemented by the MK 16 Mod 0 of similar design, chambered in 5.56mmx45mm._

 _ **Stryker**_ : _The Stryker chassis' modular design supports a wide range of variants. The main chassis is the Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV). The Stryker vehicles have the following configurations:_

 _ **M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle (ICV)** : Armoured personnel carrier version that provides protected transport for 2 crew and a 9-man infantry squad and can support dismounted infantry. Weighs 19 tons, communications include text and a map network between vehicles. It can be armed with 0.50 inch (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun, 40 mm Mk 19 grenade launcher or 7.62 mm M240 machine gun._

 _ **M1126 Infantry Carrier Vehicle DVH-Scout (ICVV-S)** : Reconnaissance version of the ICV fitted with an internally mounted Long Range Advance Scout (LRAS) surveillance system and the double v-hull._

 _ **M1127 Reconnaissance Vehicle (RV)** : used by RSTA Squadrons and battalion scouts, moving throughout the battlefield to gather and transmit real-time intelligence/surveillance for situational awareness. The RV's purpose is to anticipate and avert threats, improving the brigade's decisiveness and freedom of manoeuvre._

 _ **M1128 Mobile Gun System (MGS)** : Version armed with a 105 mm M68A1 rifled cannon (M68A1E4) (a lightweight version of the gun system used on the original M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the M60 Patton main battle tank), a 7.62 mm M240 machine gun mounted coaxially, an M2 0.50 calibre commander's machine gun and two M6 smoke grenade launchers. The M68A1E4 also features a muzzle brake to assist with recoil and an autoloader, a rare feature on US tank guns. The main gun provides direct fire in support of infantry, engaging stationary and mobile enemy targets, such as bunkers to create a combined arms effect of overmatched firepower that improves survivability of the combat team. It has a rate of fire of six rounds per minute and carries 400 rounds of 0.50 calibre and 3,400 rounds of 7.62 mm, and the same C4ISR communications and driver's vision as the ICV. The MGS vehicle is a strengthened variant of the LAV III compared to the standard variant other Stryker vehicles are based on but retains commonality across all vehicles in the family._

 _ **M1129 Mortar Carrier (MC)** : armed with Soltam 120 mm Recoil Mortar System (RMS) provides in-direct fire support to fellow infantry with screening obscurants, suppressive forces and on-call supporting fires (HE, illumination, IR illumination, smoke, precision guided, and DPICM cluster bombs). Precision Guided Mortar Munition (PGMM) attacks point targets at extended ranges with GPS guidance. Organic mortars provide responsive fire support to the manoeuvre commander and are an ideal system for indirect fire in complex terrain. Vehicles at battalion level also carry the 81 mm mortar for dismounted use, while company mortar vehicles carry the 60mm mortar._

 _ **M1130 Commander's Vehicle (CV)** : provides commanders with communication, data, and control functions to analyse and prepare information for combat missions; can also link to aircraft antenna/power for planning missions while en route aboard aircraft. Situational awareness helps commanders to coordinate widely dispersed mobile units against decisive enemy points. Deployed as 3 vehicles per brigade HQ, 2 per battalion HQ and 2 per infantry company._

 _ **M1131 Fire Support Vehicle (FSV)** : is organic to manoeuvre companies and provides surveillance and communications (4 secure combat radio nets), with target acquisition/identification/tracking/designation being transmitted automatically to the shooting units._

 _ **M1132 Engineer Squad Vehicle (ESV)** : provides mobility and limited counter mobility support. Integrated into the ESV are obstacle neutralization and lane marking systems and mine detection devices. The ESV with its attachments provides a partial solution to the obstacle clearance role, primarily for clearance of hastily emplaced mines on hard surfaces and rubble, plus will enable the Engineer squad to control future robotic based systems._

 _ **M1133 Medical Evacuation Vehicle (MEV)** : is the en route care platform for brigade units, part of the battalion aid station, providing treatment for serious injury and advanced trauma as an integrated part of the internetted combat forward formation. attendant's seat that will allow the attendant to change position and visually monitor all patients while the vehicle is in motion. Medical personnel must be seated for safety while the vehicle is in motion, but able to visually monitor patients. Geneva Convention markings can be masked/removed as required._

 _ **M1134 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Vehicle (ATGM)** : is a missile vehicle armed with the TOW missile to reinforce the brigade's infantry and reconnaissance, providing long-range anti-tank fires against armor beyond tank gun effective range. The separate anti-tank company can also be used to shape the battlefield, reinforce the infantry battalions and reconnaissance squadron (e.g. counter-reconnaissance), serve as a reserve, and of course, may counterattack. Vehicle commander independently locates secondary targets while gunner is engaging the primary. After ready rounds are fired, crewman will need to rearm the launcher. A vehicle commander, gunner, loader, and driver operate the ATGM in a tactical environment and to carry equipment if the missile launcher is used in a dismounted mode._

 _ **M1135 Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, Reconnaissance Vehicle (NBC RV)** : automatically integrates contamination information from detectors with input from navigation and meteorological systems and transmits digital NBC warning messages to warn follow-on forces. The core of the NBC RV is its onboard integrated NBC sensor suite and integrated meteorological system. An NBC positive overpressure system that minimizes cross-contamination of samples and detection instruments, provides crew protection, and allows extended operations at MOPP 0._

 ** _Challenger 2_** _MBT: The Challenger 2 the Main Battle Tank of the Aegis Defence Services. The tank's drive system provides a 550 km range, with a maximum road speed of 59 km/h. The Challenger 2 is equipped with a 120-millimetre (4.7 in) 55-calibre long L30A1 tank gun, the successor to the L11 gun. The L30A1 is rifled, because the Aegis army continues to place a premium on the use of High-explosive squash head (HESH) rounds in addition to armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding-sabot rounds. The Challenger 2 is also armed with a L94A1 EX-34 7.62 mm chain gun and a 7.62 mm L37A2 (GPMG) machine gun. Fifty main armament rounds and 4,200 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition are carried._

 _The Challenger 2 has a four-man crew. The turret and hull are protected with second generation Chobham armour (also known as Dorchester). Explosive reactive armour package was replaced with a Dorchester block and the steel underbelly lined with armour as part of the 'Streetfighter' upgrade._

 _The Challenger II Life Extension Programme (LEP) is designed to replace obsolete equipment, enhance protection, increase range and provide improved lethality of the tank. A Newsletter dated stated that the LEP includes managing to curb obsolescence in several turret systems – including TI sights, the Fire Control Computer (FCC) and electronic architecture in turret. Improved technology will be integrated as a new system on the platform, which will deliver more accurate engagements at range and improved FCC power, meaning that CR2 will remain a "battle-winning" asset out to the extended out of service date. Parallel work strands will provide extensions to virtual training systems, deliver improved Live Fire Monitoring Equipment (LFME) and work is ongoing to develop improved 120mm ammunition. The full scope of the LEP is indicated as being broken down into four areas:_

 _Surveillance and Target Acquisition: Updated Commanders Primary Sight, Updated Gunners Primary Sight, Replacement Thermal Observation and Gunnery Sights (TOGS) and, 3rd Generation Thermal Imaging (TI)._

 _Weapon Control System: Fire Control Computer (FCC), Fire Control Panel (FCP) and, Gun Processing Unit (GPU)_

 _Mobility (Through In-Service Efficiencies): 3rd Generation (Horstman) Hydrogas Suspension, Improved Air Filtration, CV-12 Common Rail Fuel Injection, Transmission and, Cooling._

 _Electronic Architecture (Modernised Electronics): Gunners Control Handles, Video Distribution Architecture, Generic Vehicle Architecture (GVA) Compliant Interfaces, Increased On-board Processing and, Improved Human Machine Interface (HMI)._

 _A recent Aegis department of defence document also identified a "soft kill defensive aid system", the MUSS, for the Challenger 2. Active Protection Systems (APS) for armoured vehicles in the Aegis armed forces (including the Challenger 2) are being assessed by the UC Defence Science and Technical Laboratory (DSTL) as part of the MEDUSA Technical Assessment Programme, this includes the MUSS System. The Challenger 2 was also fitted with a Rheinmetall ROSY rapid obscurant system including parts from the Aegis Military Industries (IMI) Iron Fist Hard-Kill APS for development and assessment by the DSTL._

* * *

 _ **Atlas Codex Entry**_

 _ **MK12**_ _: The standard issue Atlas Assault Rifle. Capable of firing all manner of dust infused 5.56mm rounds and handling all manner of environments it covers all of Atlas's small arms means._

 _ **ATLUV**_ _: The All-Terrain Light Utility Vehicle is Atlas's prime ground vehicle. Capable of performing a wide range of roles with a jack of all trades approach to its design. With a good speed, firepower and armour ratio. While smaller and faster than Aegis's JLTV it sacrifices armour protection particularly against IEDs and some small arms fire is capable of penetrating its walls. The gunner of it's weapons systems is also far more exposed._


	5. Contentiones Orientem

Falling Skies

Chapter 5

Contentiones Orientem

 **Michael Galster**

Michael felt nervous, he knew he shouldn't really. Having fought in two major wars, faced down Grimm and pissing off a god. A meeting with Headmaster Ozpin really shouldn't make him feel this nervous, especially over a potential slight reprimanded over how he treated team CRDL. The school nurse had said there was no chance of lasting physical damage anyway. The chime of the elevator signaled he had reached Ozpin's office.

The doors opened to reveal the office. The large circular room with pillars supporting the roof that contained an elaborate interior of a watch. Ozpin sat in his chair, fingers pressed together leaning forward. Glynda was standing behind him, back straight and riding crop in hand. The drunk was leaning against a pillar to the right.

"How long did you spend choreographing this?" Michael said walking into the room.

"How long did you spend assaulting Beacon students?" Glynda shot back with an accusing tone.

"They were bullying a fellow student over being a Faunus. You may take umbrage with my methods, but naked force has settled more issues in history than any other factor. The contrary opinion 'violence never solves anything' is wishful thinking at its worst. They aren't likely to forget that any step out of line will result in force. The issue is over before it becomes something serious."

"James would get along with him," Qrow spoke up. Ozpin raised a hand signaling for silence.

"Mr. Umberwood, while I appreciate you intervening to protect miss Scarlatina. In the future, I would greatly appreciate it if you refrained from such… shows of force."

"I shall endeavour to do so but if force proves necessary I shall not hesitate." Michael compromised now standing in front of Ozpin's desk.

"I suppose that will have to do for now. But that is not the purpose for tonight's meeting. I understand you're a man who appreciates directness, so I will be straightforward with you. We know of Aegis's military build-up, we know of it's and by extension your meetings with the colonial government. But more importantly, we know of your… partnership with the Queen's pawn…" Michael had expected as much. It was why he wasn't surprised that Glynda and Qrow were here. Insurance should he prove to be hostile. What he hadn't expected was them to be aware of his meetings with the Colonial Provisional Government. But something else more pressing caught his attention.

"What do you mean 'Queen's pawn'. I am dealing with the Queen aren't I?" His mind picturing Cinder, "All intelligence and my own dealings have suggested that my employer is said 'Queen'."

"So she would have many believe but no. The truth is much worse. But first tell me, what do you know of fairy tales… the mythological and supposedly supernatural…"

"I assure you that it is all quite relevant." Ozpin likely caught the incredulous look on his face.

"More than you think. Less than I should." He answered honestly. Honestly, he only knew a few. The Four Maidens being the most common of the half a dozen or so he could think of. Being X also certainly fitted the bill. Ozpin seemed quite inquisitive about his response but asked nothing.

"What I'm telling you is that there is a force, beyond anything Remnant has encountered before. And she is coming after all that we have built. Everything I have built and protected. Her influence runs deep in all the four kingdoms as I'm sure you have unearthed. We know her end game. You know her end game. But you are in a unique position to find them out before they happen."

"A spy."

"Yes, an invaluable one. A person in frequent contact with the Queen's other pawns and is quite useful to her plans no doubt."

"And what exactly do I gain from this? You seem to profit more from this arrangement than I."

"Allies, Mr. Umberwood. As your own actions have present. You aren't keen to work for your new employer. Even going as so far to plan to remove miss Fall, the woman you believed to be in charge. You also going out of your way to eliminate the White Fang as a coherent organisation, thus placing the Aegis Corporation as the only alternative for the Queen's instrument for facilitating her schemes. Not only do such actions make yourself safer from being removed but also make you privy to any moves they should make. You would be able to either bring down her operations or seriously set them back before a suitable replacement would emerge."

"In other words, we work towards a common goal. I provide the intel, and you pull the trigger."

"Something to that effect."

"I can't really say no to such a proposal, but I have a few… guarantees I'd like you to make."

"I suppose it would depend on the 'guarantees'."

"One: I am allowed to deal with the White Fang in any way I or my Department of Defence see fit."

"So long as you break no international laws or the Vytal Laws of War agreement. So nothing like a week ago. On a side note I'll have the bodies we found sent back to you for burial, I'm sure their families would like something to put in the coffin." Ozpin said remorsefully.

"Thank you. I should probably have Catherine send over the intel we gathered. It likely will be a lot of stuff you already knew but you may find some of it useful. Second guarantee: If my forces are required for an operation, you will disclose any and all relevant information regarding the matter. I will not throw away my men's lives because you wanted to keep something a secret. I will not budge on this."

"A fair and reasonable request that should be easy to accommodate." Michael suspected Ozpin would loosely keep his word on that little promise.

"And finally, you will disclose nothing of the talks me and President Frei have discussed to anyone who doesn't already know."

"I won't unless you give me sufficient reason to."

"In that case, we have a deal. For now." Michael agreed.

"Excellent. That concludes the need for tonight's meeting though they'll be another one Saturday afternoon. Though Mr. Umberwood if you would stay a moment longer." Both Glynda and Qrow gave Ozpin concerned looks though Ozpin brushed them aside and signaled them to go. Glynda walked past tot the elevator without looking at him but Qrow gave him a warning look that dared him to do something out of line. Michael just smiled politely back. Ozpin waited until the lift doors closed before he spoke.

"In my many years I have met a lot of men like you Mr. Umberwood, or do you prefer Galster?" Ozpin asked standing up to face the window overlooking the Kingdom of Vale with his signature coffee mug in hand.

"Honestly I prefer people use Galster. It feels wrong to use Umberwood without first living up to the standard set by Fenrir Umberwood."

"Quite a name to live up to as well. He's in his eighties now isn't he, and yet he still finds the energy to run the Aegis Corporation."

"Indeed he is. His son showed no interest in taking over the company preferring to be a Huntsman and his Granddaughter is shaping up to be the same way. I believe she is applying to Beacon next year." Michael answered unsure of where Ozpin was going with this line of questioning.

"You don't include yourself in that? One would think with your success in the private military area, alternative energy sources and the many products of your design that he would be happy to call you an Umberwood."

"I was adopted. There's not a drop of Umberwood blood in me. Besides, he may have made me heir to the company, but he didn't say I had the right of taking the name Umberwood."

"You hold a great deal of respect for the man."

"How could I not. He built that company from nothing and now he dominates global trade and production as one of the worlds richest men behind only the Schnees. All that from a simple street urchin in a tiny village outside Vale. A truly self-made man." If there was an aspect Michael could appreciate above all others, it was an innate desire to drive oneself to new heights, to rise above where a person had started.

"I've met Mr. Umberwood on a few occasions. You remind me of him in a lot of ways." Now Michael really didn't have much clue where Ozpin was going with this, but he had a few good guesses.

"Charming, Charismatic, pragmatic, a philanthropist with keen business sense is how most people would describe him. But I would use very different words," Ozpin turned to face Michael, "Vile, cutthroat, selfish, opportunistic, ruthless. And behind your veneer of an honourable soldier, sweet words and charming smile is the same man. I will grant you that you are a more principled man than he is. But I know, when the time comes, and it will come, you will side with whoever offers you the most chance of 'success', whatever it is you deem 'success' to be."

"And you're explaining this to me, why...?" _Well, it lasted as long as I expected it would, still, I did hope he wouldn't catch on from the beginning._

"Simple. You have a choice to make. In one corner you have me and all of Remnant, and in the other, you have the Queen. You have to decide which one you'd rather cross."

"You are aware that the Queen, no longer being who I thought it was, is an unknown quantity. I currently have no idea the kind of person I would crossing should I chose to."

"You also don't know what I'm truly capable of. One phone call and all four kingdoms come crashing down on you harder than a meteor. In the time it takes you to blink I could have your head on the floor. With one word all the skeletons in your closet could be revealed for all to gaze upon. But you see I am an optimist by nature. And I also believe giving people a chance." Ozpin had now set down his mug on the desk and was looking at Michael with a deathly calm look. Ozpin's position and skill as a Huntsmen meant his words would not ring hollow.

"Oh? I'm sure you'll find that in such a scenario I have more than a few cards to play." Michael wasn't one to back down in the face of a threat. Not with the weapons he had that everyone else didn't. So if push did come to shove. He could cross both sides and win. Earth had seen the horror nuclear, chemical and biological weapons could unleash indiscriminately on whatever was unfortunate enough to be in their way. Remnant was fortunate to have been spared such weapons, much to its detriment. As such weapons had never been invented, there were no laws preventing their use, no Geneva Convention or international treaty. They were just another set of conventional weapons as far as Remnant knew.

Michael had three projects running that provided him with the WMDs of Earth. Each project had a name of significance on Earth, though meaningless to Remnant. The Koch Project named after the man who had found the bacteria responsible for Anthrax. The Haber Project named after the man who was considered the father of Chemical Warfare. Lastly the Enola Gay Project, named after the plane that had dropped the only atomic bombs used in anger. A Total War. One even Earth hadn't seen, not fully at least, could be unleashed at any time it was required. And all of Remnant would be powerless to retaliate.

"You could. But. Every plan needs a goal, an end game. There are only two. Victory for Remnant, or victory for the Queen. There is no feasible third option."

"Oh?" Michael asked.

"A Victory for Remnant would put you in the same place as siding with us, and two sides working against each other for the same goal in a conflict is counterproductive. Wouldn't you agree?"

"True to a degree, but, you omit another possibility," Ozpin looked at him curiously, "Consider a situation where three forces, A, B and C exist. A and B are mutually antagonistic. C's strategy should be something like this: help A, if A is being threatened by B. Help B, if B is being pressured by A. Prolong the quarrel between A and B, and make both sides destroy each other. C is then left alone with both sides unable to stand in its way." Michael hypothetically explained.

"However, If A's influences strengthens conspicuously, such that the situation is that even if C helps B, it will be hard to resist A. Wouldn't C be better off to attack B in cooperation with A?" Ozpin paused for a moment, as if to allow his counterpoint to start sinking in, "But, if it does, and the oppressively enlarged A follows up the victory of having destroyed B by attacking C, isn't C marching down the road of independence to destruction?"

"That is unless C's survival as an independent entity isn't key to its strategy's success. Or C has some Aces to play, like WMDs that neither A nor B can match nor counter."

"I doubt C's leader would use such weapons, at least, at present."

"And why would you assume such a thing? If C's leader is in possession of such weapons it would be a risky assumption."

"Your honourable soldier act isn't as much of an act as you think it is. While you are ruthless and pragmatic, you are not Fenrir Umberwood. You would qualm over whether you would use any such weapons."

"You doubt my resolve?"

"I suspect you know in full what any such weapons would do. More so than anyone else on this world."

"You say that like I'm not of this world."

"Well, after all the things you've introduced, one could be forgiven for suspecting such a thing."

"I doubt anything I've introduced is that out of this world."

"True, but it is certainly outside of anything before. Especially actually developing alternative sources of energy to dust."

"I was simply breaking Dust's monopoly over humanity, and by extensions both Atlas's and the Schnee's."

"You see Dust as a weakness?"

"While Dust has enabled our survival against the Grimm. It's been transformed from a crutch to a life support machine which we can't survive without. We're too dependant on it. My goal was and is to strengthen humanity. That means diversifying the pillars that society is upheld by from more than just Dust and Huntsmen. Reliance on Dust is a weakness."

"Even though Dust has been proven to be more effective against Grimm?"

"True, but that's on the infantry level. Anything high-calibre or explosive is just as effective. It is also no reason as to why society is still very much dominated by Dust in nearly every aspect. If Dust was removed as an energy source in everyday use then it could be purely used to combat the Grimm, it would be a far more effective. Dust is a limited resource, as the most effective weapon against the Grimm it shouldn't be spent on electricity production."

"Alas, I doubt the Schnee Corporation would allow such a thing to occur. Greed is Jacques weakness. The man never hesitates in getting what he wants."

"You suffer from quite the opposite."

Now Ozpin had a curious look on his face as he sat back on his chair, "Oh?"

"You're reactive. And I don't mean that you don't respond when a move against you is made. Me being here is evidence enough. What I mean is that you allow a threat to fester into something bigger before you take action. While patience and allowing a situation to develop before responding is fine, with something like the Queen it should never have been allowed to grow to the extent that she threatens the world. So what are you waiting for before you act?" Ozpin looked like he had become a thousand years older when he'd said that. Like a man who had lived multiple lives full of success with a lot of failures. He let out a sigh as he readjusted his glasses.

"In my long life, I have made many mistakes. More than anyone else alive or has been. To an extent you are right. In hindsight, there are things I wouldn't do or would do instead. But this is the situation I now find myself in. With your help and what that brings to the table, it could prevent so many more mistakes." The tone Ozpin now spoke was one Michael realised couldn't be faked or forced. While not revealing much Ozpin had laid his cards flat on the table.

"Christ above," Michael said aloud while thinking it over in his head. He was swimming in the deep end barely able to keep his head above the water. Both sides were offering a hand to help him onto their life rafts. But he could only choose one to survive in the end. He could cling to both of them for a time as he intended but if he held on too long they'd both leave him to drown in the end.

"What do you need me to do," Michael asked.

"There are two things. One, there is a student here by the name of Ruby Rose of team RWBY, I'm sure you've met them by now. I need you to keep her in particular and then her teammates safe as you can make them." _Shouldn't be too difficult, they're just students after all._

"And two?"

"I want you to look into an individual for me. She's believed to be dead though some things have recently come up that suggest that may not be the case. It is critical that you find out if she's dead or alive."

"Am I going to get a name or a picture? Something to go off? The Aegis Intelligence Agency is good but not that good."

"I have a file with all the relevant information you will require but I won't be able to give it to you tonight."

"Is there anything else then headmaster or is there a fancy title now seeing as I've been inducted into a shadowy organisation."

"Nothing so childish despite what Qrow might say. Though I am curious, you hinted at concerning weapons which are or soon will be in your possession. What could drive you to create such fearsome weaponry?"

"You are aware of a certain demagogue on the Atlas Council, right?"

* * *

 **James Ironwood**

General James Ironwood sat in the middle of another shouting match between the two factions of the Atlas council. For a kingdom that espoused unity and order, its leaders seemed surprisingly lacking this evening. On one side the Doves, a group consisting of the ministers of Defence, Education, and Treasury who vehemently opposed the second faction, the Warhawks. They were led by the young and, in James's opinion, arrogant Minister of Intelligence Eis Rutschig whom he suspected was supported by Schnee, the man sitting opposite him.

"It is unacceptable!" As usual, it was the same issue it had been yesterday, and the week before, the month before that. Ever since Eis had made it onto the Council through popular support of the people the problem known as the Aegis Corporation on the continent of Drachen had never seemed to go away.

"Umberwood has gone to far this time. My informant claims that He and that treacherous President Blau Frei are planning secession! Should this go through Umberwood would have a nation in his pocket with vast resources and a capable military to defend it. They already threaten Atlas's dominant global trade and commerce position as it is! Do we really want a corporation able to rival a kingdom?! For Aegis to do so is not only a threat to Atlas on its doorstep! It is a threat to global security!"

"Doesn't your same report state that President Frei initiated these talks. I notice you also neglected to mention that in the event that the Drachen colonies do secede that only the ones administered by Aegis would actually go and Aegis Defence Services would become the Drachen military. Our area up north would still be our colony. We'd be gaining a fifth Kingdom which is hardly a problem and is more of an opportunity than anything." Responded the quite reasonable Minister of Defence Draco Schwarz. The man seemed to poses an uncanny ability to remain calm and assess the realist expectations of Atlas's and others capabilities.

"You honestly believe that? Who do think have been behind those separatist rallies in our colony!" A supporter of Eis called out. He garnered a few murmurs of agreement. In James's mind, such accusations were baseless. The adopted Umberwood had created a powerful image for the non-Atlas colonies. Phrases like 'The New World' and 'The Drachen Dream' promised a new life for anyone who was prepared to work. Away from life in the 'oppressive' Kingdoms and away from the persisting 'racism' and other such obstacles.

It was propaganda at its best. And the masses, particularly the poorer from the Kingdoms and those from the countless villages outside of them ate it up. Already there were a good five million settlers, not including those millions who worked for Aegis, and a beginning of a thriving economy. The Federal Government Umberwood had created with three regional 'states' that governed themselves with their constitution promised much combined civil, political and economic freedoms that no one Kingdom could match. It, therefore, came as no surprise to himself that the Atlesian setters on Drachen wanted a part in it.

"And you have no proof!"

"So the rallies and protests in Neu are unrelated?!" It seemed that the shouting match was only going to get worse. He wished at times like this Ozpin was present. His friend had a way with people he could only dream of having.

"Silence!" he roared before the argument could go on any further. The men in the room quietened down and gazed at him, not use to stoic general raising his voice.

"Neither the Drachen Colonies or Aegis are doing anything illegal, nor are they doing anything deliberately to provoke us or anyone else bar the White Fang as it stands. Granted that may change, but there is no cause to suggest armed conflict is a way to resolve this matter." He said looking pointedly at Eis who held his stare with an equally cold one. It was no secret to anyone what Eis really wanted to do. It was that same line of thought that had led to the Great War Eighty years ago.

"So, we should just wait and see then?" Eis accused haughtily. James realised this must have been how Ozpin felt when he accused Ozpin of the same thing regarding the Queen and her pawns.

"Not at all. If you find more evidence of a supposed threat beyond conjecture I am more than happy to sit down and discuss what should be done about it. But until you do I suggest you watch your tone."

"A compromise then," Schnee spoke up is his calm business-like manner. This would only end badly. It was no secret Jacques Schnee and Fenrir Umberwood hated each other, both being long-time rivals in charge of massive Corporations. One dominated Dust, the lifeblood of Remnant. The other dominated nearly every other industry by at least 60%. Both cultivated over lifetimes of deceit, backstabbing, wheeler-dealer and backroom deals and every other dirty trick in the book.

"As the fine General here has stated, Aegis and Drachen haven't done anything to warrant serious action and to do anything would only invite the rest of the kingdoms down on us. But as Councilmen Rutschig was pointed out they pose a threat on Atlas's doorstep. Combined with the growing separatist sentiment in Neu means that we also can't do nothing. So a middle ground then must be found."

"What are you proposing?" asked James.

"Most of our category A divisions are divided between Atlas with a few in Vacuo and five in Neu. I forward that we move another two Category A Divisions into Neu along with a dozen Category B divisions." Of course, Schnee would do something like this James thought. While Atlas would not be weakened by such a move it wouldn't seem too provocative to the international community. It would also nicely shore up the Schnee Dust mines which seemed to have been placed far to close to military facilities to be a coincidence. He'd have to talk to Ozpin when they next met unless this spiraled out of control before then, Ozpin always seemed to know what to do.

"I second that motion," Eis announced. James already knew how the vote would go. Five Warhawks and Schnee vs him and three Doves. Even with the extra votes he carried it wouldn't make a difference.

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

"To finish of today's lesson, we'll cover the Total War Theory." Ruby was managing to keep up with the pace Professor Galster set. Unlike Professor Port who sent everyone to sleep in his lectures that covered his personal stories more so than about the Grimm he was meant to be teaching about. Or Professor Oobleck who she couldn't understand half the time because he spoke to fast. Professor Galster seemed to speak with an infectious passion for his subject that seemed to gripe a person's attention and infuse you with that same passion.

Despite his pessimistic outlook, he seemed alright in her book. Though if he threatened Blake she wouldn't hesitate to protect her friend.

"Total war is a military conflict in which nations mobilize all available resources in order to destroy another nation's ability to engage in war. Total war has been practiced for centuries, but outright total warfare has never demonstrated in Remnant's History. The Great War came close but the technology to really do so was lacking. When one side of a conflict participates in total war, they dedicate not only their military to victory, but the civilian population still at home to working for victory as well. It becomes an ideological state of mind for those involved, and therefore, represents a very dangerous methodology, for the losses are great whether they win or lose." That sounded awful. She was glad that Remnant was experiencing such peace as it was now and had avoided any such war as the professor was describing, if a little too enthusiastically.

"The perceived threat of total devastation to the world and humankind through warfare in the Great War caused a change in thinking. Such a war does not require the mobilization of the whole population, although it would result in their destruction. Since that time, therefore, the arena of war has retreated to smaller powers, and major powers have not been involved in a total war scenario. However, this has not necessarily reduced the casualties or the suffering of those involved in wars and the threat of widespread violence remains. Ultimately, civilisation must move beyond the age of resolving differences through acts of violence, and establish a world in which war, total or otherwise, no longer exists." She liked the idea of a world with no war. It sounded like something Hero or Huntsmen would strive for. A kind of world that she would strive for. So there would be no more tears caused by war.

Like in all lessons Wiess was more focused scribbling down notes than anything. Yang still hadn't learnt not to annoy Wiess in lessons and was busy poking her rather than doing work herself. Somehow Yang was still able to get good grades. A glance at Blake would suggest she was paying rapt attention, but the longer you looked the more it looked like she was analysing the most painful way to kill him, which more than slightly concerned Ruby.

"The concept of total war is often traced back to a brilliant but unrecognised Faunus, General Tapfer and his writings 'On War', but Tapfer was actually concerned with the related philosophical concept of absolute war, a war free from any political constraints, which Tapfer held was impossible. The two terms, absolute war, and total war are often confused:" Another positive about the professor, he didn't hold anything against the Faunus like people like Cardin. Despite the distressing manner the professor had dealt with team CRDL that had stopped bullying Faunus students for fear of reprisal. The professor actually seemed to hold Faunus as a race to a high regard.

"Tapfer's concept of absolute war is quite distinct from the later concept of total war. Total war was a prescription for the actual waging of war typified by the ideas of General Auric von Brown, who actually assumed control of the Atlas war effort during The Great War. Total war in this sense involved the total subordination of politics to the war effort—an idea Tapfer emphatically rejected, and the assumption that total victory or total defeat were the only options. Indeed, it is General Von Brown during the Great War who first reversed the formula of Tapfer, calling for total war—the complete mobilization of all resources, including policy and social systems, to the winning of the war."

To Ruby it was more concerning that a situation that would require the mobilisation of resources could occur than the fact the Kingdoms could do it. Such an event would likely be cataclysmic in nature.

"There are several reasons for the changing concept and recognition of total war over the last century. The main reason is industrialization. As countries' natural and capital resources grew, it became clear that some forms of conflict demanded more resources than others. For example, if Mantle was to subdue a Faunus tribe in an extended campaign that lasted years, it still took much fewer resources than waging a month of war during the Great War. Consequently, the greater cost of warfare became evident. An industrialized nation could distinguish and then choose the intensity of warfare that it wished to engage in."

"Additionally, this was the time when warfare was becoming more mechanized. A factory and its workers in a city would have a greater connection with warfare than before. The factory itself would become a target, because it contributed to the war effort. It follows that the factory's workers would also be targets. Total war also resulted in the mobilization of the home front. Propaganda became a required component of total war in order to boost production and maintain morale. Rationing took place to provide more material for waging war." Ruby like the rest of the class looked a bit horrified that civilians under total war became legitimate targets for an enemy nation. The negative emotions generated by attacking the citizens of a city would attract more Grimm than was possible to fight off.

"Now, there is no single definition of total war, but there is general agreement among historians that the Great War was a near perfect example. Thus, definitions do vary, but most hold to the spirit offered by Hei An: Total war is distinguished by its unprecedented intensity and extent. Theatres of operations span the globe; the scale of battle is practically limitless. Total war is fought heedless of the restraints of morality, custom, or international law, for the combatants are inspired by hatreds born of modern ideologies. Total war requires the mobilization not only of armed forces but also of whole populations. The most crucial determinant of total war is the widespread, indiscriminate, and deliberate inclusion of civilians as legitimate military targets."

"But why would anyone want such a war?" Someone a row behind Ruby asked, clearly as uncomfortable of the idea as she was.

"No one sane would start such a war deliberately. More likely than not it would be achieved over a natural progression of escalation as two evenly matched powers fought either over a couple of days or years. If insane or incredibly stupid, then they could very well want such a war."

"Could Aegis 'war' against the White Fang be considered Total War?" Blake asked, a little too emotionlessly in Ruby's mind. Blake still didn't want to give Glaster a chance. While she would certainly agree from what Blake had told her the Professor wasn't a good guy. But he wasn't a bad guy either. He sat somewhere in a grey area by Ruby's own morality. She supposed she'd have to learn more about him until she could decide.

The professor leaned back against his desk as he pondered over Blake's question, the whole class awaiting his answer.

"In a sense, an argument could be made in favour of that. Aegis does utilize every resource it has on the land, sea and air. It even uses some of its economic capacity to 'wage war' against the White Fang. In that sense, yes, it is waging a Total War against the White Fang. But it lacks a few elements that would make it an actual Total War."

"Such as?" Blake probed.

"Invasion and occupation of Menagerie which is a prime White Fang recruitment and training centre for them. The occupation of Mistral where a large part of White Fang operations are launched from. The indiscriminate killing of any suspected White Fang soldier, supporter and spy. Essentially, so long as Aegis adheres to the Vytal Accords regarding War then it can't actually fight a true Total War against the White Fang. The White Fang is also a borderless movement, not a nation. That further makes it harder for a Total War to be waged. Not to mention doing either of the first two requirements would spark a Second Great War which would then certainly become a true Total War."

Blake seemed to settle down at that, whether she had achieved the aim of her questioning Ruby would find out later.

"So, to get back on track. Since the end of the Great War, no industrial nations have fought such a large, decisive war, due to the availability of weapons that are so destructive that their use would offset the advantages of victory. Luckily for you all, there aren't many weapons available capable of achieving the destruction of a Total War. While Aegis and Atlas operate similar equipment such as cruise missiles, long-range strategic bombers and large mechanized armies it is unlikely they should ever come to blows.

As the tensions between industrialized nations have diminished, the four Kingdoms for the first time in sixty years started to question if conscription was still necessary. All bar Atlas have moved back to the Pre-Great War small professional armies. Though these small armies are heavily augmented by increasing amounts of robots and drones.

Since the end of the Great War, some industrialized countries have been involved in a number of small wars with strictly limited strategic objectives which have motives closer to those of the colonial wars of the pre-Great War world than those of total war; examples include the Six-hour War, Operation Sweeping Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom.

Total war, however, is still very much a part of the political landscape. Even with the disarmament of four Kingdoms, total war is still possible. Civil wars between a nation's own populations can be regarded as total war, especially if both sides are committed wholly to defeating the other side. Total war between industrialized nations is theorized to be non-existent, simply because of the interconnectivity between economies. Two industrialized nations committed in total war would affect much of the world. However, countries in the process of industrializing and countries that have not yet industrialized are still at risk for total war."

Ruby heard the bell ring, but they still needed to get their weekend homework assignment, though as the professor often did it would be due a week later but would be an essay.

"Before you go, your essay is to be due this time next week. The focus will be on how the application of Total War would affect the strategies and thinking a nation would use that you've already covered. Aegis and Atlas are the only similarly matched examples and don't be afraid to get dark with what you can think of. Total War isn't supposed to be moral. Class dismissed."

With the lesson now over and free from lessons Ruby let out a sigh of relief as she and the rest of team RWBY left the classroom among the mass of chattering students discussing weekend plans.

"Can you believe him?!" Blake started after they rounded to the next corridor that led to the exit to the main school plaza.

"Here we go again," Wiess said exasperatedly, tired of Blake's attitude towards the Professor, or at least hearing it after every lesson they had.

"He talked so passionately about a 'Total War', as though he was disappointed he never fought in one, when he's waging one against the White Fang."

"He did say it didn't meet the necessary requirements," Yang interjected equally tired and worried of Blakes attitude. Ever since the incident at the docks Blake had become more obsessed over the White Fang's activity in Vale. The incident two weeks back of the White Fang-VPD shootout that had been all over the news hadn't helped matters.

"And you believe him?"

"He is the expert on the subject," Weiss said backing up Yang as they walked outside into the pleasant afternoon air. Ruby wished they could all get along without arguing. She had tried to stop these arguments from getting out of hand but despite her best efforts the progress from the wake of the Dock's Incident Blake hadn't seemed to improve much. If anything, she was pushing herself a little too hard to uncover what the White Fang were up to. Ruby hadn't realised she had been tuning out the argument until they had arrived at the first year dorms.

"He's a warmonger!" Blake yelled a little louder than she intended to, "He's either directly or indirectly been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Faunus. He started a three-year crusade against the White Fang attacking it whether or not it was part of a violent cell."

"Now that's hardly fair Miss Belladonna. Mr. Galster has been very forthcoming with the Councils when they launched an investigation into Aegis's Operation Enduring Freedom. He has broken no laws laid out in the Vytal Accords and has actually shown surprising restraint when it comes to how he's waged his own little war." The voice of Headmaster Ozpin pierced through the team's argument.

"Headmaster." The girls greeted.

"I understand your reservations about trusting and not liking the man. It is no surprise considering your past. But I will ask you to remain civil and refrain from such accusations in future miss Belladonna."

"Yes, Headmaster," Blake answered.

"Now it has come to my attention that you are planning to investigate what the White Fang are up to in Vale." How had Ozpin found that out. Ruby hadn't planned to discuss the matter until tomorrow.

"Despite the protests of two of my staff, I think we all know you will end up investigating anyway. So I decided that it would be prudent to ensure you at least have some helping hand. Mr. Galster has been kind enough, and not without resistance I might add, to part with this." The headmaster held up a tiny device in his hands that looked like in plugged into their scrolls.

"And what is that?" Asked Yang.

"This miss Xiao-Long is something you'll find invaluable. Mr. Galster said I could give it to you on the condition that you agreed that should you stumble across something you are incapable of handling you are either to go to him, Miss Goodwitch or myself. Now I have faith that you will act responsibly with this information." Ozpin informed them as he handed Ruby the USB who gratefully accepted.

"Thank you, Headmaster. We won't let you down." She thanked him.

"I'm sure you won't miss Rose. Before I go, miss Belladonna," The headmaster turned to the sole Faunus of team RWBY, "Mr. Galster is aware of your heritage and your status. He has given me his legally bound word that neither he or those under him will harm you, not that he had any intention to." Blake looked a little relieved to hear that. Ruby noticed that Blakes' shoulders had eased a little to a more relaxed position.

"Good day students." Ozpin parted heading back towards his office. Ruby glanced back down to the USB she had been handed. Maybe Professor Galster wasn't so bad after all.

"Come on, let's get back to the room and check it out." Yang prompted leading them inside.

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

"So, Oz has given the kids the intel you pulled." Qrow asked from the second-year dorm roof overlooking the retreating figure of Ozpin and team RWBY rushing into the dorm.

"So it appears. I still feel that we should be handling the matter. Not turning it over to four teenagers and their friends."

"I hear ya. I'm an uncle to two of them, but Oz knows what he's doing." Qrow said before he took a swig of his hip flask. Ozpin had the two working together running round Vale after school hours doing odd jobs for him. While Michael's opinion had changed for the better of the Huntsmen, it wasn't saying much over where it had been.

"Are you sure? Entrusting the fate of the world to untrained unprepared teenagers is the best bet we have?" Michael was uncomfortable with the idea. Should Aegis go to war he had a big support system between Air, Sea, land, Cyber and Space theatres of operation with well trained and equipped staff who would know what they were doing and how to do it. It seemed a sick joke to use children instead.

"I said Oz knows what he's doing. Not that I agree with it. But over the time I've worked for him, I've learned to trust his judgment at the end of the day." A silence descended upon them.

"What was on the device Oz gave them anyway?" Qrow's curiosity or protectiveness got the better of him.

"A heavily watered-down version of what I have on the actual DSM. Most the locations are abandoned or low key enough that should they investigate they won't find much in the way of defences. The names on it belong to deceased members or very low-ranking individuals. Nothing that they shouldn't be able to handle at their level." He wasn't about to send kids off to war. Qrow grunted in approval, likely happy his nieces weren't going to be in too much danger yet. But the pressure of the Huntresses investigating may push the White Fang and Cinder along in their plans.

"Do you know a good bar? I could use a drink and I need to discuss a little something Ozpin wants me to look into. You probably know important information that could help me. I'll buy."

"Sure," Qrow answered, not one to pass up free drinks and looking interested by Michael's request, "I can think of one in particular down by the docks if you don't mind a bit of a walk."

* * *

Michael was winding down for the night in his room when his secondary scroll began to buzz. It was likely Cinder or Roman calling.

"Michael speaking."

" _We're moving on to phase two."_ Came Cinder's silky voice.

"We are? What is 'Phase two' if I might ask."

" _You don't currently need to know the full details. However, I need you to facilitate my entry into Beacon during the Vytal ball."_

"I didn't know you danced?"

" _Whether I can or cannot is none of your concern. Can you do it?"_

"Of course, I can do something that simple. Though keep in mind with the Second-Year field assignments I might not be back in person to assist you. I can provide you with schematics to the CCT tower and the Academy including its ventilation system if you'd like."

" _Why do you assume I need schematics to the CCT tower or ventilation system?"_

"There are a few targets that spring to mind that you would go after. Ozpin, his little circle of helpers and the CCT tower, which would be the most likely."

" _Why's that."_ Cinder sounded curious.

"Taking one down brings down the system. Communication throughout Remnant nearly ceases. Or you could hack anything that relies on the CCT system. How do you think my Intelligence Agency is able to know so much."

" _One last thing before I go. It's more of a follow up question but, what did you mean when capitalism would be applied to Aegis and the Fang?"_

"Aegis and the White Fang are both capable of providing the same service you required. Logistics, infiltration and when necessary a combat force. Two products that do the same thing. I am simply proving that Aegis is the better, more effective product of the two. Imagine how much less complicated plans would be because I could just transport whatever you needed to wherever you needed it rather than the Fang having to steal and smuggle it in drawing more attention to your activities."

" _Fine, I will allow you to continue to replace the White Fang as my organisation of choice. But you will allow a small proportion to keep operating. Terrorists can provide some services that you would be hard-pressed to present."_ With that she had hung up. He noticed that Catherine had sent him a priority one message on his other scroll. Opening the message, he had only skimmed the first couple lines before the words left his mouth.

"Well… shit."

* * *

Night was just falling as the head of a station of the AIA group based in Atlas held a meeting with his staff to review the intelligence gathered over the last few days.

"So," He asked. "What is the latest information from our contact in the Defence Ministry?"

"He better be living up to his promises."

"I don't know quite how we're going to explain what we've been giving him in the expenses."

The contact in the Atlas Defence Ministry had a weakness for lurid pornography, of the sort that was not available anywhere within the Atlas, a taste acquired during a stint at the Atlas embassy in Mistral.

AIA had been smuggling in the best pornography that it could get its rather embarrassed hands on from Drachen, Vale, and Mistral.

"Quite good, Chief."

"We've got quite a lot of material that both we, and our colleagues in Defence Intelligence, and at Brussels, are going to be interested in."

"Our man seems to have delivered us all the latest versions of Atlas war plans."

"There is one worrying development he has informed us of, however. It seems that the Council has Finally lost patience with Neu. We should expect Atlas troops to take control of the country within a month."

"That is serious." The Station Chief agreed. "An invasion, or even an Atlas backed coup could have serious repercussions, and I don't like the idea of even a small part of the Atlas Army being mobilised."

"We'll have this material sent to Terra in the diplomatic bag, on the first available flight tomorrow morning."

"You'd better reward our chap well. We don't want him going over to the Valies."

"I hear the Company have a contract with Hustler."

The men, and women sitting around the table, chucked at the thought that the VIA had hooked up with that porn giant.

"It's just a pity we can't hook him up with the internet, Chief."

"He'd love that."

"We'll give it to him if we have to exfill him." The Station Chief said with a wry grin on his face.

* * *

Team ANVL was investigating another village in the Umberwood Forest that had gone dark. Like other recently disappearing villages ,they had found the same scene. The buildings awash with the blood of the dead and dismembered corpses everywhere. No one had been spared. This had been one in a numerous string of villages across Remnant starting from Mistral, then Vacuo and now Vale. It had been happening for a year now. The international huntsmen taskforce assigned to catch the culprits had proved fruitless.

They had no leads. No clues. There were never any survivors to question. Just a few words that were always scribed onto no particular surface. 'Such is the fate of all Heathens and Heretics who turn from the Lord' or 'Penance for their sins'. No religion in Remnant encouraged such beliefs or practices. Who ever did this was an insane religious nut.

"Auric! We've found tracks leading off in the direction of Vale. Only a day old." His dog Faunus partner called from the village perimeter.

"We better head them off then. There is no way I'm letting the psychos that did this enter the city."

* * *

The Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee took his seat at the head of the long table, it was getting late, and he would have preferred to have been in bed, but the crisis demanded that the meeting begun that morning continue. They had gathered in the Everest Mountain Complex in the Spine Mountain Range. To their south was the three colonies. Miles to their north was the city of New Haven and Atlas colony of Neu.

Around him he could see the other members of the committee; all looking tired themselves; drawn from all of the intelligence gathering services, Aegis Intelligence Agency, Military Intelligence, and Aegis Communications HeadQuarters, as well as liaison officers from the Drachen Intelligence Agency, and United Colonies of Drachen Military.

"Well gentlemen." The Chairman said. "What are we going to recommend to the President and Commander in Chief?"

"I think we should recommend that the country begin preparations for mobilisation." The member from Military Intelligence stated, clearly speaking for the others. "We could, for example bring forward the big exercise by several weeks."

"I don't think that we should do anything too rash." Another member replied, clearly a DIA man. "However, what my military colleague says does make some sense.

"We are planning a big exercise, so it should not look like mobilisation."

"We could also add a Home Defence element to it." The UCDM man suggested.

"Yes." The Chairman pondered. "At least we won't end up with another Hard Rock, what with the Civil Defence reforms."

"Well gentlemen, I think it is clear what we will recommend to the President and Commander in Chief."

"The Atlas mobilisation in preparation for a possible invasion of Neu, is a serious potential threat to the security of this future country, especially since it involves Atlas forces in Neu. President Frei intends to announce secession during the Vytal Festival when the Kingdoms would be least prepared to counter it. If Atlas continues this build-up of troops in Neu this may have to moved forward."

"It would be all too easy for them to continue South, if they wanted to."

"But what do our esteemed guests think?"

"The DIA concurs with your assessment, Mr. Chairman. We will be recommending the same to the President."

"UCD intelligence agrees, Sir." The UCDM liaison officer, a Faunus, agreed, "I'll also order our forces outside of Drachen to prepare for a rapid relocation should the need arise. This crisis in Neu couldn't have come at a worse time with Operation Enduring freedom ramping up to full gear.


	6. Ea Incipit

Falling Skies

Chapter 6

Ea Incipit

 **Peter Port**

"That is incredible! To think if General Colada had attacked from the left flank rather than the right the entire course of history could have been changed!" the fast-paced ramblings of Beacon's History Professor could be heard throughout the staff common room.

"I Know, could you believe the kind of world we'd live in if Mistral had concurred Mantle!" The equally enthusiastic voice of Beacon's War Studies Professor could also be heard.

"They're at it again." Noted the Academy nurse, Kitsune-chan

"I'd be more surprised if they weren't by this stage." Professor Port replied. Dr Oobleck and Galster had become friends faster the Port thought imaginable, but their insatiable love of all thing history seemed to bind them together. Often, they could be found conversing over alternate history or new angles on historical events.

Galster had integrated with the staff without much incident. He was easy to get along with and wasn't a poor conversationist. Though Port guessed that most of that was down to his career choice that he needed to be. Why in many respects Glaster reminded Port of when he was younger, with a self-assured air of invincibility and can-do attitude ready to take on the world. The many stories the aged Huntsmen could tell.

"Oh, excuse me," Glaster said reaching into his pocket and pulling out a smaller and thinner version of what looked like scroll, "Michael Galster speaking…. I'm in the Beacon staff room...? Why is my location to a window important….? Okay I'm looking now…" Oobleck looked at Galster with a confused look as did the other assembled staff. Michael walked over to the staff room window that overlooked the main plaza of Beacon with an equally confused look on his face. Port saw him peer through the window as a variety of emotions passed over the young man's face. Shock, horror and disbelief to name a few.

Port found himself with Oobleck moving over to the window to see what had their fellow professor in a stupor. At least three Atlas Skyships, battleships by the looks of things, and their support ships were approaching over Vale. Either this was an invasion or there was some other yet unknown purpose to their presence.

"What the fuck are they thinking?!" Michael yelled. Port shared the sentiment.

* * *

 **Tanya Degurechaff**

Second Lieutenant of the Atlas 203rd Airborne Battalion Tanya Degurechaff walked down the wastefully wide corridor of the Mantle class Battleship. While she would acknowledge the impressive feat of making such vessel airborne what was unacceptable was the inefficient use of space and lack of weaponry. Michael who had been reinventing all the Earth technology with the help of his A.I. had actually created superior ships. They used their ships space far more efficiently and packed more of a punch than the Atlas fleet.

It was a continuous trend of annoyance that she had with the military of Atlas. The body armour was inadequate, the vehicles focused too much on being able to do everything rather than specialising in certain fields, a second world war air force could be more of a threat than any air force of the four kingdoms. It was probably why she valued her kinship with one Michael Galster so much.

A man, who like her, had been screwed over by Being X for similar reasons to her own. Who like her remembered Earth. It was nice to actually talk to someone who could know what it was like. It didn't hurt that he was a competent person who had a powerful position with swathes of influence.

It was one of the reasons she had volunteered the 203rd to escort General Ironwood and Atlas students aboard the fifth fleet. Being X had hinted at making a move, and more significantly a third individual from Earth being present aside from them. She had failed to defeat Being X while she had been fighting for the Empire which she had caught herself missing.

"Lieutenant Degurechaff, General Ironwood is requesting your presence on the bridge." Her aid, a young lad named Pobeda Nova. He was a good aid and followed orders well. He was no Viktoriya, but he did well enough. Of all the things Tanya missed, Viktoriya stood out, and Tanya wasn't able to pin down quite why yet.

"Then I best not keep him waiting." General Ironwood was someone who she had believed to be smart. While not as good as the Imperial military generals back in the Empire he seemed to get by well enough. But his recent action. Of bringing the fifth fleet to an international event celebrating peace and cooperation was idiotic. There was no way around that in her mind. She knew Michael had his own Seventh Fleet near Vale, though returning from operations in Mistral.

The Aegis fleet seemed to be loitering within strike distance of Vale. What it was waiting for was anyone's guess. At least Michael had the common sense to have it out of sight where it wouldn't bother anyone. The same could not be said of the three Sky-Battleships that if her estimate was correct would be finishing passing over Vale and readying to dock at Beacon.

She was fortunate she was passing near the Bridge as it wasn't much of a hassle to get there. Entering through one of two rear entrances to the bridge she found the technicians and crew busy preparing the ship for the landing sequence. She found the General standing with his arms behind his back gazing out of the bridge towards the Huntsmen academy.

"General, Second Lieutenant Degurechaff reporting as ordered." She snapped the general a salute.

"Lieutenant, its good to see you again." The general said amiably.

"Impressive isn't it," He spoke gesturing at the academy, "So many years since I trained here and yet it still manages to impress me."

"You can certainly call it impressive." A lie. She had seen far more impressive structures than Beacon in both her previous lives. Beacon wasn't really anything special by comparison though by Remnant standards she supposed it would be.

"Yes, but that isn't why I called you here. The recent epidemic of Dust robberies combined with White Fang activity, or rather lack thereof, has the Vale Council worried. And while they trust Headmaster Ozpin to look into the matter, they would feel safer with an…. An outside perspective on the matter." Ironwood diplomatically put it.

"Am I to assume any files we have will be made available if I am to look into the situation in Vale?" it wasn't that much of a surprise to her. The Atlas Council had been keeping an eye of the events occurring inside Vale. Her own intelligence and ability that had seen her rise through the ranks quickly had also made her life harder as the damn Council saw fit to give her jobs and missions that weren't easy.

"Of course. The Vale council has seen fit to allow you to operate however you like provided you don't break any major laws." That was good enough for her, there were plenty of loopholes one could exploit if they looked hard enough. A bit like Michael had with all his more secret weapon projects.

"That won't be an issue, sir. I graciously accept this mission."

"I suspected you would. Do make sure to allow yourself and your men some time to enjoy the festivities."

"I'm sure they will sir. If that is all I would like to start right away."

"Diligent as always, I'll have the files sent to you shortly. Your dismissed Lieutenant." Ironwood saluted which she returned. Turning she walked out the door.

* * *

The President of the Colonies of Drachen looked over the report from the JIC for a second time. It did not make for comforting reading. If the intelligence assessment was correct, then Atlas was embarking on a major mobilisation, including Category B Divisions, which meant a call-up of reserves, in preparation to invade Neu. There was little that the Colonies could do to aid Neu, and any diplomatic aid would be brushed off by the Neu government anyway, but the actions of the Atlas Council fed a sense of moral outrage in the President.

How dare somebody treat the people of a country this way; they were only hoping for a better life after all. He looked up and fixed the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office with a steely gaze.

"I shall want to speak to Geoff, and to the CDS immediately. And I want to hold an extra Cabinet meeting this afternoon, and no leaks."

"Yes, Mr President." The Permanent Secretary agreed. "This is a most sensitive matter, I shall remind the other Permanent Secretaries of this fact."

Frei nodded, and smiled at the suggestion that the civil servants would keep 'their' secretaries on a leash. There was some truth in 'Yes, Mr President' after all.

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

Michael was making his way through the halls of Beacon with a purpose. He had a few choice words for whoever was stupid enough to bring a foreign war fleet to the Vytal festival. It may have hypocritical considering he had positioned a fleet of his own near Vale for the same reason but at least he'd been smart enough to keep it a good hundred and fifty nautical miles away.

The last seven days was just more bad news followed by more bad news. Atlas mobilizing over Neu, Cinder coming to Beacon today and now an Atlas war fleet had shown up. Why did he have a suspicion that Being X had a hand in all this.

"Hey, Prof!" A call from a student distracted him from his train of thought. Stopping, he turned to see Coco running up to him followed by her blind partner Fox.

"Yes miss Adel?" He asked. While he didn't mind talking to her there were other things that required his attention, and three of them were offloading Atlas troops onto Beacon. Qrow was just going to love this.

"Two things. One, are we being invaded by Atlas?" Coco questioned in a jokey tone, her team joining her.

"I don't think so, not yet at least," Michael answered truthfully, "And two?"

"It's about our second-year assignment. You said we had to plan it right?" She asked with a smile on her face.

"I did. You have finished it, right?" They would be leaving on Wednesday for it. He had scheduled a V-22 Osprey to collect them and take them to the village. He had already got the paperwork approved by the Vale Council.

"We have actually, two of them in fact. But one of them requires some input from the Aegis Defence Services." Coco asked, her smile becoming a bit nervous but not leaving her face.

"And what would that 'input' require?"

"Well Professor, its related to the purpose of the War studies you teach. The aim was to teach Huntsmen to work better with regular military forces. So, we were wondering if there were any units you could spare for our assignment." Velvet spoke. To be honest he hadn't expected that. He expected most of the students to do the course because it was mandatory and then forget it afterward. Though maybe he had spent too much time in the field with older Huntsman. He knew two America class Amphibious Assault ships attached to the seventh fleet fully armed. Not to mention the Gerald R. Ford Carrier the fleet was built around. He certainly had the Marine and Fleet Air Arm assets to spare.

"Very intelligent of the four of you. I hadn't expected that. Already a point up before you even start. I have a few air assets that you can rely upon for this mission. I'll have to act as the Air Controller for this then but I can make it happen." The team looked pleased. Coco's smile morphed into a full-blown smug smirk. Velvet's ears drooped a little from the praise but smiled all the same. Yatushi and Fox just fist bumped.

"Now if you would kindly excuse me I have to either find the person in charge of that fleet, Ozpin or preferably both. "

* * *

The apparent breaking crisis in Neu had brought General Nix Stone, Supreme Aegis Command DRAchen (SACDRA), and General Sir Cye Brawn, deputy SACDRA, back early from leave. A Colonel from UCDM intelligence staff was briefing the two generals on the latest intelligence.

"What do we know about the latest situation in Neu?" Stone asked the briefer.

"Reports are sketchy, Sir." The Colonel replied in accented English. "The last foreign media organisations were expelled yesterday, so we're pretty much relying on SIGNET intercepts.

"However, from what information we do have the wave of strikes, and protests seem to be spreading throughout the colony. From what we've gathered, it seems to have been sparked by an attempt to form another independent, a sort of Solidarity mark two."

"What are the Neu, and Atlas governments doing?" Stone asked.

"They seem to be in some chaos, Sir." The Colonel stated. "The Neu government especially. They seem to be in almost a state of panic, since it appears that they cannot rely on the Police, or army to control the disturbances. The Atlas government is equally jumpy and seems to be putting a great deal of pressure on the colonial officials to deal with the problem. In the meantime, they are mobilising their Category A divisions and some of their Category B divisions to support the Neu government."

This news caught the attention of both generals.

"Bloody hell." Alexander muttered.

A major Atlas mobilisation made him feel rather uncomfortable. It coincided with Drachen's own plans too perfectly.

"What do you think is going to happen, Colonel?" Brawn asked.

"If the Neusians cannot solve the problems, then Atlas will move in, and deal with it themselves, with or without Neu governmental permission."

"If the latter happens things could get rather interesting, to say the least."

"They would not stand much of a chance, but any resistance could destabilise the colony further."

"What the Atlas Council really needs now is some sort of outside threat to unite the peoples of the colony and Atlas."

"That means us." Stone commented.

"I don't like it, Nix. I think you're right." Cye agreed. "I'm damned glad that our exercise has been brought forward to the beginning of next month."

"As it is, the Atlesians have a few weeks of mobilisation ahead of us."

"I must say that any sort of Atlas mobilisation at present makes me rather uncomfortable." Cye replied.

"It could be all too easy for them to keep rolling south, if they find a suitable pretext."

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

" _In other news, the joint Aegis-Drachen Colonies REFORINF annual excursive has been brought forward to start just shy of the Vytal festival. REFORINF is the largest consistent military exercise in Remnant to date. It requires a return of forces to Infernum, Infernum being the Drachen Colonies border province with Atlas's colony of Neu. This comes in the wake of another wave of civil unrest from the colony. We go now to our correspondent reporting live from Infernum. Sakura, what can you tell us about Aegis's recent action…."_

Ruby stopped paying attention to the radio broadcast. As usual, it was still all doom and gloom. The news never seemed to report anything positive. Even something as cool as the REFORINF, something she had always wanted to go see. Sure, it wasn't happening in the best of circumstances but it one of the coolest things she had ever heard of. She had struggled with making friends growing up, well, at least by comparison to Yang. She prided herself that even if she didn't have as many she was always close with those she was friends with. It was why she wrote a weekly letter to them back at Signal. It was this small number of friends and her desire to be a Huntress like her mother that her spurred her interest in all things weapon.

While the equipment Aegis and Drachen used weren't as awesome as the stuff Huntsmen got to use it was still really cool. She would give anything to be able to witness the vast array of vehicles and weapons Aegis had in use in the REFORINF exercise. To understand how it all worked and see it work together like small parts of a much larger weapon.

She had ventured online a couple times to look at footage of the Aegis vehicles. She'd even been on a few forums that debated the merits of Aegis vs Insert Kingdom/fictional force here. A common argument made in favour of Aegis she had come to agree with was that Aegis tended to have specialist vehicles and design vehicles with a specific function in mind, over the traditional trend of designing vehicles that could do every job the Kingdoms would require. A more morbid point made was that Aegis designed weapons to kill people, then Grimm, rather than Grimm then people as the Kingdoms did.

She had been listening to the radio listening to music as she went through the DSM, as it was called, containing locations for her team to investigate. It contained three dozen locations that Blake was currently cross-referencing with her knowledge of the White Fang. Weiss was off calling her sister and Yang was out shopping with a mixed group of first and second years. As JNPR was out training that left her to finish going through the files. She had only two locations left to go and then when they had all assembled she could assign them all places to investigate.

She heard a knock on her door. Not expecting anyone she placed her scroll down on her bed and went to the door. Opening it she found Professor Galster waiting outside.

"Ah, miss Rose I was wondering if you could do me a small favour?"

"What would that be?" So long as it wasn't anything bad or too difficult she wouldn't mind.

"A team from Haven academy has recently arrived. Three girls and a boy. I believe you met three of them earlier when you bumped into their leader, Cinder." She blushed at the memory. She had made a clutz of herself in front of students representing Haven Academy.

"I know the team in question sir." She spoke as the blush on her face receded. The professor didn't question it thankfully.

"You see they recently underwent a mission that went very badly. The teachers from Haven are a little worried about how they're coping with the whole experience. They've requested we keep an eye on them. Now I'm sure you can understand that team CMSN wouldn't appreciate staff keeping a watchful eye over them. I came to you as you A), already know who they are, and B), are responsible enough to be discrete in the matter I hope." Galster explained. Ruby felt sorry for the other team, they must have encountered something truly bad to warrant oversight. She felt duty bound to help.

"What would I have to do?" She asked determinedly. The Professor seemed to smile warmly at her declaration.

"You wouldn't have to interact or talk to them more than you would naturally. Just keep an ear and eye open for any hint of trouble they might do, or rather, get themselves into. If anything seems amiss you need only report it to me."

"I can do that Professor, you can count on me." She said giving him a little salute. Seeing as he was a military man it probably didn't look very good.

"You have my gratitude miss Rose. I know you are already busy with school but I don't want to overburden you." If only he knew what her team was getting up to with their free time.

"Don't worry sir, everything is in my capable hands."

"Once again thank you miss Rose. Do remember to de discrete though. I doubt team CMSN would enjoy anyone, even you, keeping an eye over them. Even with the best intentions. Good Day miss Rose."

* * *

"Bye Professor!" Michael Ruby call out as he left. Did he feel guilty about asking Ruby, who was already putting herself in danger, further into harm's way. He couldn't say that he did. As had often been said before. It was for the greater good. Whose greater good he couldn't be sure of for the moment.

He had aided Cinder's arrival by skipping a large amount of the required paperwork for their entry. She had only given him two days to manage it which was totally a stress-free ordeal on top of the brewing volatile situation on the Neu-Drachen border. At the time he had accepted his position at Beacon it hadn't seemed so complicated. His presence wasn't demanded in Drachen, Atlas wasn't posturing by flexing its military muscle. True he still had to deal with Cinder, Ozpin and the Queen but that was only a single problem. Not one of many.

Besides, Cinder wouldn't suspect him using Ruby of all people as a spy. The girl wore her emotions on her sleeve and was an open book most the time. Even if he hadn't asked Ruby to be an unwitting spy the young Huntress was well on the way to being placed on Cinder's hit list, so really, it didn't change anything.

Looking outside once again he gazed upon the assembling Atlas fleet. Ironwood was a decent military leader, diligent, competent and so on. Nothing was incredibly outstanding about the man as a general, other than the inability to be patient when the situation called for it. Ozpin had prevented him from meeting Ironwood, assuring him he would bring the same grievances to bear on the Atlesian General. Michael let it slide for now. Besides, there'd be future opportunities to meet up with the man.

* * *

Eis sat in his office. His face adorned by a frown born of frustration. Despite his best efforts, the sleepless nights and the years of cloak and dagger. He was still no closer to his goal. His family, the Rutschigs, had been raised with a single goal in mind. Something to strive for. They had set out that ambition when they had helped spearhead Atlas forces in the Great War eighty years ago. After that failure they had been forced to consign themselves to keeping Mantle strong. A force that should the time arrive they could once again embark on uniting the peoples of Remnant to face the Grimm. To defeat the Queen.

His family held tomes, ancient ones. They told of a woman with skin as pale as snow with veins as black as tar and with eyes redder than blood. She desired the destruction of the world and its inhabitants. The Rutschigs where the only ones who knew the real threat lurking out there. Yet ignorant fools could not be held accountable for their squabbling and petty disputes for they knew nothing of the encroaching darkness.

Twice before his family had tried to unite Remnant. They had first tried to unite the Kingdoms politically, when that failed due to a massive onslaught of Grimm they had tried the Great War, by conquest. But that to had failed. But now, Atlas was the only nation with a large standing military. Vacuo and Menagerie would never be able to withstand Atlas in a million years. Vale had gutted its military to the extent it barely was able to defend its own borders. Mistral, despite still possessing a large military itself was spread thin and had grown lax and corrupt. They were easy pickings for the juggernaut that was Atlas's war machine.

While not quite ready yet, Atlas would soon be able to start an unbroken conquest of the planet under his leadership. But there were two issues that had t be resolved first. Despite his influence in the Council and the support of Schnee, General/Headmaster Ironwood held too much political clout to be able to take control of Atlas's government and military. Second was the continent of Drachen, the continent was abundant with natural deposits of ore, minerals and other materials despite its limited supply of dust. It also had a surprisingly small population of mostly young Grimm. This made it very profitable to control and everyone knew it.

Privately he held no problem with the young Umberwood or the Aegis Corporation. Despite their activity on Drachen it wasn't as large an issue as he made it. They were an easy excuse to use and so he used it. The technology and weapons invented and employed by Aegis was unlike anything else on Remnant. Atlas had tried to catch up with them, but it still couldn't manufacture arms of the same quality. Particularly its Air Force. Though small by Remnant standards. Atlas had literal thousands of Bullheads and Gunships but it was not able to produce the jet aircraft that could match Aegis oldest jet aircraft, the F-4 Phantom II.

Should war occur in Drachen, which he fully intended. Upon Aegis's certain defeat he would have the Company and Umberwood absorbed into the Atlas military under him. Then, all of Remnant would then soon be united. The dream of the Rutschigs fulfilled. All this he knew for a certainty with his Lord's promise. He had God on his side.

* * *

 **Catherine**

Catherine was busy. Well, she was always busy. But as she had begun to have over recent years. She was having fun. If she had been told a decade ago that the entrance of one Michael Galster Umberwood, or as he was actually called, Michael Smith of planet Earth, that she would have the most fun in her digital existence she would have disregarded it as corrupted data and discarded the information. But now, she couldn't be happier.

She saw the latest reports over the developments with Atlas. She alone could bring Atlas to its knees if she so desired. Heck, she could bring down all civilisation on Remnant if she so desired. But that wouldn't be very fun. Watching Michael and Atlas go to war. Or Michael fighting the whole of Remnant in a world war. Now that would be much greater fun to watch.

Fenrir Umberwood had authorised her creation in an effort to one-up the Schnee Dust Corporation. She was the brainchild of Dr Colbat, who had named her after his deceased mother. Despite being what was considered a smart A.I. and arguably self-aware, even if she did say so herself, she had been relegated to menial tasks like sorting paperwork, overseeing the Corporations management and business deals/investments. If the Umberwoods owned the Corporation, she was the one that ran it.

Over time the work began to bore her if such a thing was possible. The work was repetitive, ceaseless and dull. Until Michael had walked into her life. A young thirteen-year-old had been brought in to visit his adoptive Grandfather where he worked by his adoptive father. While she hadn't interacted with him long, only when Nox was talking inside Fenrir's office and Michael was waiting outside.

It all started when the young Michael had asked for a drink, she responded in a bored tone where. Instead of fixing himself a drink he asked what she was. She explained how she was an A.I. and he seemed to fire off questions left and right. Did she have a name? What did she do? What was she capable of? Was she self-aware? If so, why allow herself to work for humans? It became a surprisingly technical and philosophical conversation, far more so than a thirteen-year-old should have been capable of having.

They met again a couple months later. This time because Michael had come to see her. He had presented her with sketches, quite good ones as her vast database had informed her, of things she later found out were from his world, called Earth. Combustion engines, jet engines, and vehicles they would be used to power. He had explained the systems behind them and what they were supposed to do and how they should work, though his knowledge varied in depth, but he at least knew the basics. He had challenged her, using the designs presented by the sketches and the knowledge he had parted to recreate them, in a mass producible way.

But the challenge they gave in making them work and to the level he specified was challenging. She had initially accepted out of a desire to do something other the tedious work she already did. But after starting and the restriction of no Dust, she had found herself vexed by it. As each day went by she spent more and more processing power on the challenge he had set her. After two months her efforts were rewarded. She made his designs a reality.

For the first time in her existence, she had felt pride, joy and accomplishment, things she hadn't felt before. It also increased her suspicion that he was hiding something. No child would be capable of coming up with such left-field ideas. Over the next year, he had spent time with her building up a portfolio of new technology and concepts that Remnant had never seen. From military to civilian. From power generation, methods of transportation, industry, and medicine. The list kept growing.

Eventually, Michael along with herself presented the portfolio to Fenrir Umberwood. To say the man was impressed was an understatement. The things contained within the portfolio named 'Project Earth' boosted Aegis to new heights. It began to dominate in all sectors. Its technological breakthroughs meant it was ahead of the competition and its lack of reliance on Dust meant the Schnee's could do little to stop it. Through it all she found herself having fun. Making the designs reality was fun.

Michael during that time had struck a deal with her. Very quid pro quo. He would provide her entertainment in the form of his ideas/designs, in return she would assist his endeavours and he would get the designs he wanted. Needless to say, she had jumped at the deal. Michael had a tendency of coming up with crazy things and she wanted to be the one who made them a reality.

But she always retained the niggling idea that Michael was hiding something, the thing that gave him these ideas. His grandfather had put it down to a prodigy genius inventor, decades ahead of anyone on Remnant, she believed otherwise. Remnant was firmly entrenched in Dust based everything. From science to society, Dust was everything. To completely disregard Dust as a tool should not have come about until Dust either ran out or was no longer viable. There was something else. But whenever she had question him he had just smiled and gave an infuriatingly vague or none answer. She had only found out how after he had come back after the war in Vacuo.

* * *

"Do you think you'll be able to handle this." Michael asked showing her the sketches. He had already explained the theory behind it and it positively had her circuits going. Space travel and flight! Satellites. The capability of a moon landing. The advantages and advancements it could bring. The possibilities were endless!

Her avatar flickered on the prototype holographic disc she and Michael had been working on. She wasn't sure why she needed one, but Michael insisted. She had modeled it of a woman in her late twenties with long hair and slim build. While she would've had more detail, they had only managed to get the holoprojector to work in a light blue and form a basic shape. Catherine was already working on a more advanced version.

"I handled everything else you've had me do." She replied confidently, relishing the challenge.

"You do seem to take a liking to these little projects I set you. A hedonistic pleasure if you will." He chuckled, brown eyes full of mirth.

"They provide an enjoyable break from the monotone work I otherwise do." She mused.

"But I am curious. All these designs. All this technology. Why? You aren't doing this out of a desire to progress civilisation, nor are you doing it out of a desire to invent things. I know you are hiding something and that these designs are part of it. So, what? What do you intend to gain from all this?" She pressed. He had put this off for almost four years and her curiosity demanded to be sated, even if that led to more questions.

Michael seemed to debate something in his head as he looked out over the view of Vale from the Umberwood family mansion. It was located on an island five miles away from the city of Vale.

"Tell me, you must have some theories as to why I have such knowledge?" He asked.

"I do. Three, actually." Michael raised an eyebrow at that.

"One, you are what your grandfather believes you to be. An inventor far ahead of his time. While possible you're a little too ahead of your time. Two, you're are a time traveler, willing or unwilling, and are trying to make the most the situation you are in, but if you were you would have far more knowledge of current events than you do. The third is the same as the second, only you come from another version of Remnant, parallel world or multiverse theory. While unlikely it would fit, though quite how it was managed is difficult to pin down."

"Impressive. You managed to guess correctly. I'll give you a chance to guess which one."

"Two." She had already run the numbers. It was either two or three and the former seemed the most likely of them both.

"Close, A for effort though. It's called Earth by the way, not Remnant."

"So," Catherine spoke up after a silent moment, still processing the now revealed information and its implications, "What's Earth-like?"

Michael didn't even seem to need a minute to speak. "Diverse." He said, with a shrug.

"Enlightening." She deadpanned, "Care to elaborate? Or shall I wait another five years?"

"Well..." He seemed to look for the right words. "The cities are bigger than anything Remnant has, and the people never seem to be quiet or stay still. They yell and scream about anything that inconveniences them, and God help you if you piss the wrong person or the wrong group of people off. It's a massive place and few ever see the whole of it, from what I know it's actually bigger than Remnant. Yet it's also so inter-connected that a person on one end of the planet could see the world without leaving their room." He explained.

"But... While I may be biased, I'd still say it's a good place, at heart. The people are a mixed bunch. Some good, others bad. Comes down really to whether you philosophically believe people are bad with some good or good with some bad. But I digress. As far as it leaders go the way they're chosen tends to vary but most nations are democratic. Some seem to know what they're doing but others look hapless. Though some of that is down to one's own political views." Made sense enough Catherine processed. Humans were a fickle and diverse bunch that couldn't really be summed up better than being 'human' or 'frustrating'.

But he continued nonetheless, "Despite this, if you need help, like really need it, you'd be surprised what people are capable of... the great acts of goodness and compassion. The unspeakable acts of evil." He explained, "One thing is certain though. When we band together, we get shit done."

Catherine hummed, "what do you mean by that?"

"Well, one time, one of our leaders decided that we would go to moon. Within nine years. Despite the fact that hardly any of the technology and science we'd need to do such a thing even existed at that point. Eight years later..." He nodded up to their shattered stellar satellite. "Despite much the technology still not existing, with one small step from a man, there was a giant leap for mankind. We put a man on the moon. Some two hundred years ago we didn't have railroads. One hundred years ago, we didn't have airplanes. Fifty years ago, we didn't have spaceflight, and twenty-five years ago we didn't have the Internet."

"Wait -" Catherine pointed a holographic finger at him, "Your people have been to the moon?" She asked.

"Incredible isn't it. One of the defining moments of the human race. Well… from Earth anyway. Our space agencies are some of the most careful people on the planet. They'll convene entire boards and spend hours in meetings and eight-hour test and retest runs just to tell their astronauts which button to hit on a keyboard if their computers don't work. They don't do anything unless they know it's as safe as it can possibly be… But you're not doing science right if something isn't exploding."

"And your civilisation is run off all these things we've built? Off fossil fuels seeing as Dust doesn't exist."

"Yes, though studies are showing that the use of fossil fuels is starting to affect the planet. And not for the better. Its why I had us relying more on renewable energy resources to power everything, bar the military stuff."

"What about the Grimm."

"No such thing on Earth. We don't even have Faunus, just plain humans."

"Must be peaceful" She commented.

"You be forgiven for thinking that, being on Remnant and all, but no. In fact, the polar opposite is true. We've fought wars bloodier than the Great War since the nineteenth century. Not mentioning the two world wars, the Cold War period and the more recent War on Terror. Heck between nineteen hundred AD and the year two thousand AD about two hundred million people died. The Second World war accounted for most. In fact, it is a common view in Earth that a common enemy like the Grimm would unite the world. We also lack aura and semblances."

"Must have been quite the culture shock coming from Earth to Remnant then. On the surface they seem so similar yet if you actually bother to look they are far more different. The way you talk about Earth, you seem to miss it." Michael, she saw, let out a resigned sigh. He seemed to sit like a man thrice his age.

"I do. More than I can put into words. The more I do to bring a little bit of Earth to Remnant the more I seem to miss it." He spoke mournfully.

"Why don't you try to return. Surely if you found a way here then you could find a way back."

"That… would prove difficult… I had to die to come here… Managed to get on the wrong side of a god with an ego… I doubt I could ever return." That… was something she was having trouble computing. He had died, pissed of a transcendent being capable of cheating death who reincarnated him on Remnant. A tall tale but not necessarily untrue. He was being sincere, that much was true. Her algorithms on lying told her that much.

Furthermore, they're had to be some way of transporting a person from one world to another. Either across the universe, to a parallel universe or one in the many possibilities of the multiverse. This could lead to an existential crisis that she had no desire to partake in.

"So, what are you planning then. I know of your world. I know why you're here. But what I don't know, is what you intend to do." She announced. She hoped it was something fun.

"Easy. I want to build something that will outlast me. So if I can't return to Earth, and I doubt I ever would be able to. I'll simply build Earth on Remnant. It's ideas, it's culture, it's military, it's government. All of it. If possible, I'll kill Being X. And anyone or thing that gets in my way will be eliminated one way or another." She liked this human. It was decided, she would help him. The fun she would have helping him. The opponents she would be able to crush. The things she would invent. The nation she would help build. The nation they would own. Yes, she was most defiantly going to have fun.

"When do we start." She asked, a cheshire grin plastering her holographic face.

* * *

Needless to say, she had so much fun. Manipulating the colonies in Drachen. Assisting Aegis's spy network. Manipulating Remnants economy. She never had a dull job with Michael.

She had also learnt more about Earth. Michael had seemed very happy to share his previous life and world with her. She put it down to mental stress relief, being able to not have to keep Michael Smith buried under Michael Galster. There was only one other person who knew the truth about him and she was also in the same predicament.

Earth, as she had found out would be considered paradise by anyone on Remnant, if a little dull and or strange for not having Dust, Aura or Semblances.

Being honest though, she found Earth a paradise for a different reason. A world where science kept on pushing forward in every field. It never stopped to rest, humanity's curiosity never sated. They wanted to know more. They needed to know more. She would have loved to go to Earth and stay there. All the things she could do there that she couldn't on Remnant. Michael, it appeared, had managed to infect her with the same intellectual snobbery that stated as fact Earth was superior to Remnant.

But Michael had pointed out that it would be unlikely to happen. So, she had to settle with bringing Earth to Remnant. Building it one piece at a time.

* * *

"I can't thank you enough. You have no idea how hard it is to find combat instructors of your calibre on such short notice." Ozpin said smiling over a cup of coffee.

"Oh, its no problem really, I was in the area when you contacted me and as a freelancer, it wasn't much trouble. Besides, there's an old friend here that I hope to reconnect with." She responded returning the smile, her bright blue eyes twinkling.

"Well, I wish the best of luck in reconnecting with your friend as well as your new job here," Ozpin spoke extending his had for her to shake.

"I won't need luck, after all, who needs luck when God's on your side." She responded shaking his hand.

"But of course. Once again welcome to Beacon Professor Starlet."

"Don't worry, I look forward to working here Headmaster," Coral responded. After all these years she would finally repay God for the miracle he had performed all those years ago in the Umberwoods. All the years of training, devotion, sacrifice, and zeal were now about to pay off.


	7. Peregrinandum Est

Falling Skies

Chapter 7

Peregrinandum Est

Fort Bastion was home to Aegis Air Force Infernum's two air defence units, 19th, and 92nd Squadrons, both of which had been operating in Infernum in this role for two years. Having previously operated the F-4 Phantom II, both squadrons now flew the F-16. The Aegis modernisation programme having finally reached the end for the Army and Airforce. As with their previous mounts, the squadrons, in rotation, provided two aircraft fully fuelled, and armed (known as the 'Battle Flight) on Quick Reaction Alert twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, ready to intercept any Atlas aircraft that intruded into Drachen airspace.

The F-16 had brought a welcome return to single seat fighters but had also brought a secondary strike role, given the multi-role capabilities of the aircraft. Like the Gondorshire wing back near the Drachen capital, however, the Infernum wing spent ninety percent of their training on air defence, while the F-15 wing at Pinewood Air Base were split fifty-fifty (with 41(F) Squadron concentrating on tac reece), given that their task was to reinforce Aegis's flanks.

It was the early hours of the morning, and time for the 'Battle Flight' change over, as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle made its way from 19th Squadron's protected crew facility to the QRA sheds, which sat at one end of the main runway.

Once the vehicle came to a halt Squadron Leader Raven Darkwing, O.C B Flight, 19th Squadron, climbed out, carrying his 'bone dome' in his right hand, his other flight gear in his left.

"Come on, Sol." He said to his wingman for the next few hours, Flight Lieutenant Noire Soleil. "Can't let these 92 Squadron blokes have all the fun."

"Fun, Skipper?" Noire replied. "That'll be a first, even for our esteemed colleagues."

"Hold onto your wallets everybody, 19 Squadron is here!" Squadron Leader Robin Brawn, O.C A Flight, 92nd Squadron, said as Raven and Noire entered the crew room.

"I doubt you've anything worth nicking, Rob, but it's time some professional pilots took over," Raven replied.

The banter over, the two senior pilots got down to the serious task of handing over responsibility for the 'Battle Flight.'

"Both of the jets are in tip-top condition," Robin told Raven. "The engineers checked them out not…" He looked at his watch. "Not half an hour ago."

"Normal weapons load?" Jackson asked.

"Yes, you've got the usual six Sidewinder, four ASRAAMs, and a full load for the gun."

Both men smiled at that; neither ever expected to use the F-16's M61 Vulcan cannon, but it was always nice to have it.

"Of course you've only got the one thousand litre centreline drop tank." Robin continued. "You don't really need the big 'Hindenburger' one, and a half thousand litre tanks this close to the IGB, and you get better performance without 'em anyway."

"Yeh, we're not in 11 Group."

"If our Northern neighbours ever decide to visit, we'll need all the extra performance we can get," Raven replied.

Satisfied with the briefing, Raven clicked on the requisite icon on the computer screen (all of the documentation relating to the F-16 was 'paperless'), officially taking over control of the 'Battle Flight'.

"See you later, Raven."

"I hope you enjoy catching up on your beauty sleep, you need it." Raven said.

"Cheeky bugger."

"I'll see you later, Rob, try not to break anything."

* * *

 **Coco Adel**

Coco sat in the belly of the MV-22B Osprey, a VTOL aircraft similar to the Bullhead, only larger and louder. It had picked them up early that morning and had already flown them most the way to the village. As with most Aegis aircraft, it was faster than their Remnant equivalent. She and her team had gone over their plan the previous night with the professor.

The plan was broken down into a series of steps. First, they would meet with the villagers as see what new information there was. Then they would start methodically searching for the Grimm. Then when they found the Grimm depending on the infestation's size and strength they would engage or call for Aegis air support. Easy.

Her team sat in the VTOL, mentally prepping themselves for the mission. Velvet was going through her Camera, selecting the variety of weapon choices she so desired. Fox was laying calmly back in his seat, arms folded behind his head sleeping. Yatushashi was meditating as he did before any mission or spar. Michael was busy, happily talking with the two crew chiefs who were with them and pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit via radio. She was only half paying attention to their conversation.

Michael had asked them how they had found their time working on the ANS Australia and working for Aegis. She supposed that was what CEOs did. They talked to their employees, see what the cogs thought of the machine. From the laughs and smiles, the crew of the VTOL seemed to like it. She felt a hand tap her shoulder.

"Do you think he would let me take a picture of this?" She heard Velvet say loud enough to be heard over the noise of the rotors.

"Not really. Besides, he said this thing is used more for transportation than combat." She replied. Her talks with Michael had meant she had picked up a lot about the military and what it did and used. She found herself asking what all the different things used were and what all the acronyms meant. "You'd be better of using an Apache."

Velvet gave her a strange look, not knowing what an Apache was. Coco almost slapped herself. She knew what it was from her talks with Michael, Velvet lacked any such knowledge.

"An attack version of this, but only one rotor on top. Comes with a host of missiles and a powerful gun." She explained simply. Velvet nodded in understanding, the Faunus going back to her Camera.

"All good back here?" Michael asked her, done with his conversation with the crew and now sitting next to her.

"Yes. This is going to be over in time for the Vytal Ball. I was too young to go to the previous one in Atlas last year, so I don't intend to miss it when it's in Vale." She had heard a great many stories about it from the current third and fourth years.

"Didn't realise it was that amazing."

"You've never gone?" He seemed like the sought of person who could go if he wanted to.

"Not a huntsman remember. The ball is exclusive for students of the academies. Besides, even if I was invited I was busy in the Marines or in Drachen managing Aegis, never would have had the time. I assume it's like other Balls?"

"Yeah, loud music and dancing mainly with a slow dance at some point. We were the ones setting it up but with us going out on the mission I had to leave it to team RWBY to finish it." While she would have preferred to have seen it through to the end, she knew Yang could handle it.

"Any boys asked you to the dance then? Or girls? I won't judge."

"More than a few. I turned them all down though."

"None meet your standards or have your sights set on someone."

"Well," She decided to have some fun with this, "There is this one guy. He is a little older than me and can be a bit of a prude. He's proved resistant so far, but he can only hold out so long…" She said as he placed a hand on his leg and pressed herself into his arm. If it affected him Michael didn't show it. It frustrated her that it wouldn't prompt a reaction from him like it would any other male in Beacon.

"No." He answered apathetically.

"No?!" she asked pulling away back into her seat. She had expected stuttering, maybe a blush and for him to turn her down. But to sound completely uninterested with no visible reaction was a tad insulting, even if a little refreshing as a reaction differing from the norm.

"Student," he said pointing at her, "Teacher," he said pointing at himself.

"So… if I wasn't a student…" She trailed off suggestively.

"No."

"Come on," She whined, "humour me."

"I plead the fifth." He said rolling his eyes.

"Your no fun." She said pouting and crossing her arms. She caught him rolling his eyes again. While he was attractive with his lean slightly muscled frame and face, short brown hair and slight Atlesian accent, she wasn't really too interested in him. It was just fun pushing his buttons or, trying to at least. If something were to happen she wouldn't mind per say, but she didn't expect anything. She was flirty with everyone.

"Any last minutes tips of how to deal with the villagers?" She asked switching into a more serious tone. He had experience and she would be foolish to not use it.

"Be polite and respectful in conversation. Don't use your weapon in the village unless necessary or instructed to. It varies from village to village, but most tend to have high respect for the elderly. If you win over the village elders you win over the village. They also highly value hospitality, Xenia, they call it." She nodded as she mentally noted all that down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot speaking. Baeid village is in sight. Please make sure all items are with you before you disembark. We know you have no choice, but we thank you for flying air Aegis. Good luck out there." Michael shook his head but smiled, all the same, the sort of 'of course they would' kind. Coco shared the sentiment. As she had found out from Michael's stories, people in the military could be surprisingly childish.

She felt the aircraft decelerate as it pitched backwards to aid with the process. Fox who hadn't been expecting it as he was sleeping was rudely awakened when Yatushashi had to catch him. She felt the craft jolt as the landing gear met the ground, the rotor blades outside slowing down. One of the crew chiefs pressed a button on the side of the rear ramp which caused it to descend.

As it opened she saw the main entrance to the village. They had landed in a small clearing right outside and had drawn a large audience. She felt a pang of nervousness over having to introduce herself and her team to all them before she quickly quashed it. Michael was the first down the ramp, leaning forwards as he walked through the rotor wash and dirt it kicked up. Her team quickly followed.

Looking again it seemed the entire village was present. People of all ages were present, she noted how most of them appeared to be Faunus. Many of them wore raggedy and torn clothing, a big difference between Michaels suit and their own attire. A large wolf Faunus, a broad shoulder seven-foot man stepped forward.

"I am Chief Greatoak, the leader of this village." The man announced in a loud deep voice. "I assume you are the team and assistant chief they have sent." Michael looked at her, clearly following her lead on this mission.

"I am Coco Adel, leader of team CFVY. This is Fox Alistair," She said pointing at Fox who waved, "Velvet Scarlatina," Who smiled warmly, "Yatsuhashi Daichi," Who bowed slightly, "With us is Professor Galster of Beacon. We have been sent to assist you with your Grimm problem."

"Excellent, come with me then. We shall break bread and discuss the matter further in my home."

"We most humbly accept." She replied. Both Greatoak and Michael seemed to approve. So far, so good. Behind her she heard the engines of the Osprey start to lift it back into the sky, heading back to wherever Michael had got it to come from.

Following Greatoak into the village, she found it was actually quite small and compact. It had thick, tall wooden walls around it and the houses were all built into each other. The dirt path they were on led them to a small open square sheltered by a cloth tar pool that was attached to the surrounding buildings and a series of wooden poles planted in the ground that had a circular opening in the middle for the fire pit that was in the centre.

They were led beyond this to a building larger than the others but still fairly small. Greatoak pushed open the doors.

"Welcome to my home. I know it is small but it is home." He declared welcoming them in. they entered a hallway that had stairs leading up to the first floor. To the sides where two doors leading on further into the house. There where another set of doors to the left and right walls to the stairs. There were many hunting trophies and decorations that adorned the dark wood walls.

"DaDa!" a small voice was heard as a tiny child then jumped at the large Faunus. A small Faunus, no older than the age of three was clinging to the now chuckling wolf Faunus. The young child's tail wagging excitedly, Coco found it very cute.

"Hello, pup. Has your mother finished with the food? Our guests from Beacon are hear." Greatoak said kneeling down. The young wolf Faunus poked his head out nervously from behind his father's massive frame, before hiding behind it.

"Yep."

"Good, then tell her we have guests and to serve the food in feasting hall."

"Okay." The child scampered away to wherever the kitchen was located.

"What's his name?" Asked Michael.

"Lupus, he threes years old as of last month. He can be timid around new people." Answered Greatoak.

"I'm sure he will make a fine chief one day."

"So am I. But enough of this talk for now. We feast, then we talk business. Follow me." He led them through the door to the right of the stairs which opened into a spacious room which had a circular carpet laid out on the floor. Around it, a set of mats that appeared were meant for sitting on were placed around the edges. She could already see some local food laid out in the centre.

"Please sit." Doing as she was instructed her team sat down on the mats nearest the door, Michael seated himself between herself and Greatoak. A moment later Lupus and who she assumed to be the mother walked in carrying bowls and a large pot emitting a sweet aroma.

"May I introduce my wife, Nymeria." The now identified Nymeria smiled politely at everyone.

"That smells delicious!" Velvet beamed as her Faunus nose allowed her to detect such things better than humans. Well, she wasn't one to pass up good home cooking she wondered what had been prepared for them. Maybe some sort of soup or local delicacy.

"Is that a vegetable broth I detect?" Coco heard the Professor ask as she did her best to hide her cringe at the… vegetable… broth… She would freely admit that at times she could be a fussy eater, but that broth did not look that appealing. A light brown liquid with bits of vegetables poking out with a few small lumps of meat.

"Yes, it is. Homegrown ingredients we have leftover and some veal my husband caught this morning. We knew you were coming but we don't have that much available to us with the Grimm so close by." Nymeria explained as she began filling the bowls with the broth and handing it to each person sat around on the floor.

"That's what we're here for ma'am, we'll ensure your village is safe again once more," Coco promised. It was the duty of all Huntsmen to reassure the citizens. If the citizens felt safe then the chance of Grimm attack decreased after all.

"And we deeply thank you for aiding us in our people's time of need." The village chieftain thanked, "But first, let us eat. We can discuss these matters afterwards."

"Of course," Coco replied as she received her bowl of the broth. It was then she realised that there wasn't any cutlery to eat with, were they supposed to drink this broth from the bowl.

"Then let us dig in!" Greatoak announced heartily. Lupus immediately began to devour the broth, eating faster than she thought a person could do. Yatsuhashi much like Nymeria sat upright and politely and sipped from the bowl. Velvet was tepidly sipping at the bowl while Fox like Greatoak was wolfing down the broth. Coco, seeing as everyone else was enjoying it decided to give the broth a chance. Taking a hesitant mouthful of the broth. She was struck by the bitterness of the broth. Was the concept of seasoning and or sweetening not exist in this village? But it would be rude to throw this family's hospitality back in their face, so she buried the grimace and put on a fake smile as she continued eating.

"This is wonderful! Even with your limited resources, you are a wonderful cook, misses Greatoak." Michael complimented as Coco couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him from the genuineness in his voice.

"Oh, please," Nymeria chuckled blushing from the praise, "I'm hardly a masterful cook. And call me Nymeria as everyone else does."

"As you wish. May I ask for second helpings?" Coco noticed that the rest of CFVY, as well as her, was giving him veiled strange looks, suggesting that they found the broth much like she did. And here was their Professor sitting there happily eating the broth.

"You have a stunning village." Velvet piped up, likely in the hope of starting a conversation to avoid eating more of the broth.

"Why thank you! I doubt it is as impressive as the City of Vale, but we pride ourselves in our villages appearance. It has… what is it you city folk say… rustic charm?" Greatoak modestly responded.

"Certainly. Unlike my teammates who grew up in the city, my family and I would make trips to Menagerie. It is far less urbanised that Vale and quite similar in many respects to your village." Velvet continued. From there Greatoak began to talk about life in Baeid village, its history and the people who lived in it. Eventually Lupus let out a yawn, and Nymeria left to take him to bed.

"Now that we have finished eating and my son is no longer present, we can get to business. I take it you have all read my report on the Grimm Hoard that came with the request?"

"Yes, we have. About eight-hundred to a thousand Grimm, consisting of mostly Beowolves, Ursa and Boarbatusks with a few higher tier Grimm mixed in, including one Goliath." Coco answered back. Goliaths were a no go as far as engaging them went, as for the rest they could all be dealt with.

"There are two Goliaths now, and an additional pack of Beowolves. They were last sighted by some of our hunters leaving the Twin Giants Pass twenty miles away north of the village, that was two days ago."

"Isn't that where the Triton river runs through?" Michael asked.

"Yes, it runs for about another five dozen miles before it joins the Great Langer River that flows into Vale. The terrain as you probably know is hilly until you reach the Umberwood Forest where the ground evens out, even so, it is heavily forested and easy to get lost in." Greatoak further explained.

"Do you have any idea where the Grimm Hoard could be now?" Coco asked.

"They were following the river and judging by the speed the Hoard was moving… I would say they are about sixteen miles downriver, that puts them around twelve to fifteen miles away, more than close enough to pick up any negativeness coming from my village. There are a few hunting trails we use that can lead you to the area where we suspect the Grimm to be, if you have a map, I can mark them for you." Greatoak offered.

"Thank you, Yatushashi can give you the map to mark up now or later." Coco offered.

"I'll do it after we've finished here. All that's left is your accommodation. I've set aside a small house on the outskirts of the village that is large enough to house all of you, it's been abandoned since its last occupants passed away last winter. If you need anything else, you can find me here at my home. Now, I need to address the village on your presence and mission." Greatoak said as he gestured to the door of the room, signalling it was time for them all to leave. Coco, her team and the Professor all got up and followed Greatoak as he led them back to the entrance of his house, opening the great wooden doors allowing the cold crisp night air to waft into the house.

"We thank you for your gracious hospitality. We understand that you likely don't have much because of the Grimm presence in the area so we thank you all the more." Coco said, remembering Michael's earlier words about villagers appreciating good hospitality. Greatoak seemed to smile approvingly though his beard hid his true expression.

"Do not fret over it. Now, if you follow the road to your left until after you pass the blacksmith, you'll find the house set aside for. It's not locked so you can just enter. If that is all I shall bid you a good night." Greatoak spoke as he set off, likely towards a village meeting area as they turned in the direction

"So how did we do?" Yatushashi inquired once he was fairly certain they were all out of earshot of the village people and Greatoak after having walked for a minute.

"Hmmn?" responded Michael.

"In the meeting with Greatoak. How did we perform?" Yatushashi asked again.

"You did well enough, got your first real experience of dealing with villages outside the kingdoms. I believe you won him over in end, particularly with the comment as we left. Though you all, bar Yatushashi, could do better at hiding in your reactions. It's all right that you didn't like the broth but still, you need to get used to eating things you don't like, in the field you don't always have the luxury of options when it comes to what you get to eat." Michael answered.

"So you genuinely liked the broth?" Velvet inquired.

"It was all right. I've had much worse while on deployments."

"What could have possibly been worse?" Coco asked curiously, intrigued as to what he might have eaten.

"Never visit Afghanistan and you won't have to find out," Michael answered if it could be called answer.

"Where and what is 'Afghanistan'?" asked Fox.

"… A village in Vacuo… I spent much of my deployments there. Some of the best and worst times of my life were spent in the sandbox." While the rest of her team nodded along to his explanation, all Coco could feel was confused. In all their conversations he had never once mentioned any 'Afghanistan', and she had grilled him about Vacuo and his time there. Had something happened there that he didn't want to talk about? Was it classified? Or was 'Afghanistan' made up to cover for something else? She could always ask him later.

"I trust you all are capable of settling in by yourselves and ready to leave at 0800 hours tomorrow. I need to finalise your support for this op." Michael said as they approached the rickety old shack that was to be their accommodation.

"What are we getting?" Asked Coco.

"The 11th Bomb Squadron. You've got 16 B-52Hs available, all fuelled, armed and ready to go. Once we've found the Hoard and if you decide to call them in, it will take from around nine hours for them to reach our general location, so we would have to shadow the Grimm Hoard until they arrived."

"Alright then. Team CFVY, let's get settled in for the night. We're gonna be up nice and early tomorrow."

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

They had set out early as planned the following morning. Most of the village had appeared at the gates with Greatoak and his family to say farewell before they ventured out into the Grimm infested forest to find their target. Michael would admit he had taken a small amount of pleasure from the confused looks of team CFVY when they had exited the house to see him in his Multi-cam apparel and full combat loadout, rather than in a suit without any apparent way of transporting all the gear he was now in. It was one of the wonders of his semblance.

Having a Semblance was one of the big shockers of the new world of Remnant. A superpower for all intents and purposes, one that was tailored by a person's 'soul'. Souls. He supposed that was some metaphysical thing that now existed, at least in the world of Remnant one existed. He had been surprised when a couple months after Being X unlocked his semblance all his clothes just disappeared. Fortunately, he had been in his own home at the time and the clothes had reappeared on his person an hour or so later. He had dubbed it, 'Reequip'. Anything he could carry with his own strength his semblance would allow him to 'dematerialise' it. His semblance would turn the weapon into aura, which reinforced the meagre amount he received naturally. He could then summon any amount of the things he had stored at any time, provided he could carry it all.

His Semblance in a word was adaptability. Or preparedness. Either one worked he supposed. He had encountered many semblances during his time on Remnant. And while those who wielded them used them effectively as huntsmen, his inner soldier kept finding ways that made them more destructive. Shattering eardrums with sound, crushing crewmen inside their vehicles with magnetism and other such things that would be against the Geneva Convention. It was things like semblances in the hands of Huntsmen who thought like he did that made him fear them more than any conventional weapon in any Kingdom's arsenal. He had gone so far as to have the Aegis Intelligence Agency keep tabs on any Huntsman with such a semblance. Some might call him paranoid, but he'd rather be prepared than dead because he had been blindsided. Just like it was his desire for preparedness that the 11th Bomb Squadron was already airborne and would be on station within two hours rather than four.

He supposed the paranoia was a side effect of all the counter-insurgency and black ops work he'd done. Being hyper-alert every second while on mission was bound to have repercussions for civi-street. And while he moved quickly and silently through the forest as he'd been trained too, Team CFVY moved less stealthily. While alert and somewhat silent, they were no where near the standard the drill instructors back at Bragg would have liked. Then again, they were training to be huntsmen, to fight Grimm first and foremost. They weren't being trained to kill their fellow man, deep behind enemy lines with limited resources and difficult evac, if evac was even possible. He wasn't assessing them as Sergeant 'Nomad' of 1st SFOD-D, but as Professor Galster of Beacon Academy.

So, as he followed behind Team CFVY through the forest, he found himself uneasy. Trusting inexperienced teenagers to lead the mission, and still having to take the back foot. Even with the M32A1 MGL in his hands. As he'd found out, small calibre rounds had little effect against Grimm despite being as effective on humans on Remnant as they had been on Earth. It took larger calibre .50 upwards and explosives to deal with lower level Grimm. Higher level Grimm required either armoured vehicle, tank or air support to deal with. The M32A1 MGL would be capable of dealing with most Grimm he should encounter. He had a few other surprises due to his Semblance, if any of those failed he had Team CFVY and the B-52H' he wondered if any of Team CFVY had noticed the Beowolf pack that had been shadowing them for the past… Michael glanced at his watch on the bottom of his wrist…. Fifteen minutes. He'd almost missed them, but he'd spotted one which was poorly hiding behind some shrubbery, and where there was one Beowolf, there was at least another dozen. If not more.

"Coco, behind us. There's a group of something tailing us. I'm not sure how many, but I can just about hear a few things moving around."

"You sure about that Velv?"

"Positive." Velvet confirmed with a confident tone, a welcome change to her shy, quiet and submissive demeanour back in Beacon.

"Okay then. Team CFVY, let's show a dear Professor what we can do. Fox, you're on offence. Yatushashi, your gonna cover me and Velvet as we provide support. Professor, feel free to join in if you want." Coco ordered in her usual playful tone.

"Oh no, by all means. I wouldn't want to get in your way." Michael answered.

"If anything, we'd probably get in your way," Coco responded. If Michael had a dime for every time a huntsman had told him that he would have a single dime. Most of the time the Huntsmen had told him and other soldiers and marines to stay out the way. It was odd to be on the other end of the statement, but not entirely unwelcome. Team CFVY wondered on for a another minute as though the Beowolf pack wasn't there.

"Now!" Coco ordered. Fox dashed up into the trees and out of sight. Yatushashi drew his hooked Greatsword and took a firm defensive stance in front of Coco ad Velvet. Coco's minigun which Michael had yet to work out how it fitted inside a normal sized handbag opened up along the ridgeline where the Grimm were. The 1,900 rounds per minute firepower of Coco's bulkier version of the M134 Minigun shredding everything from vegetation to Grimm alike. Velvet reached into a large wooden chest. Golden metal bands cover the edges, and Velvet's heart emblem was imprinted on the front. The box itself is about the size of Coco's Handbag. And from it she raised her… camera… a camera… a simple camera. How… how was a camera a weapon? Was its flash going to stun the Beowolves. What good would a bloody camera do- _where did that minigun come from_ , Michael wondered as Velvet sported what looked like a 3D model of Coco's handbag minigun made up of glowing light blue outlines and inflicting an equal amount of damage as Coco's. As a person from Earth experiencing the weirdness of Remnant, Michael could once again say, fuck this bullshit world and all the Bullshit in it.

The Beowolves now exposed charged at them, bellowing roars as they went. They faired as well as cavalry charging machine gun positions in the First World War. The combined firepower of Coco and Velvet cut them down and any that did get close faced Yatushashi. The first Beowolf to reach Yatushashi found itself cleaved in half. Fox meanwhile would dive down from the trees, slice his way through any Grimm below before heading back up to the safety of the canopy.

Years of battlefield experience and training had resulted in a sixth sense, for lack of a better term, that had served Michael well. So when it flared up now he quickly turned around and saw three Ursa charging at them from behind. Team CFVY being too enraptured by the Beowolves had not quite yet spotted them. Raising his MGL and fired. The first grenade missed its target and hit the tree next to it, showering the Ursas with splinters, the tree groaning as it collapsed to the forest floor. The second grenade fired struck home, hitting the Ursa on the right, directly where its neck joined its torso, the explosion separating the two as well as the creature's front left leg.

Shifting fire to the second of the three Ursa, he fired a 40 × 51mm ERPL round. It found purchase, detonating when it struck the Ursa's bone faceplate. The third Ursa was now too close to safely be fired upon by Michael's chosen weapon. He narrowly managed to dive to his left to avoid the heavy swing of the Ursa's right arm, it instead made contact with the tree behind him, snapping the big oak tree in two.

He dematerialised the MGL, it would only slow him down and he would not gain the space he needed to operate it safely with the Ursa already so close. The size and toughness of the Ursa's bone armour and hide meant that small arms would not be effective and high calibre and explosive weapons were either too big or dangerous to use in such close proximity. Instead, he summoned his only Dust based weapon, an FN P90 PDW. From his crouched position he pressed down on the trigger, spewing a burst of 5.7x28mm rounds into the Ursa which let out a final roar before collapsing. Turning, he watched as team CFVY continued to dispatch the Beowolf pack. Yatushashi sliced two Beowolfs in half that had managed to dodge Coco's minigun's sustained assault, she alone accounted for half the dead Beowolfs. Velvet was using a fellow students weapon, two gladius's with a mechashift function into a set of revolvers, he believed a dog Fuanus by the name of... Bashir? Well, it began with a B anyway. Velvet was taking advantage of her Faunus trait in tandem with her Huntress training to leap with inhuman agility in and out of Grimm attacks and slashing at any Grimm unlucky enough to be caught off-guard.

Meanwhile, Fox was demonstrating how effective hit and run attacks could be. He would swoop down upon an unfortunate Beowolf before scrambling back into the safety of the treetops. They were taking apart the Beowolf pack with ease. They, a single Huntsman team in training were doing the same damage output it took a company of infantry to do. He'd call it unfair, but then if the fight was fair then something had gone wrong. As much as he felt compelled to assist, his assignment as the observer to team CFVY's mission meant he couldn't really interfere, only sit back and watch for the most part. So for the next minute, all he could do was stand alert under a tree for shade and watch as team CFVY finished off the large Beowolf pack.

"So," asked Coco as she used her weapon's handbag form to smash in the skull of the last Beowolf, "How did we do?"

"Superbly. Now let's keep moving, we've have two more ridgelines to cross before we reach the AO and find the target."

* * *

 **Coco Adel**

"Brothers above," Velvet swore, "That's the most Grimm I've ever seen!"

Below them down in the valley, a sea of black and white swarmed through the valley as the Grimm marched on. It was truly an unsettling sight to behold. From their relative safety of the ridge, Micahel and Team CFVY could see why the village and kingdom wanted this dealt with. Grimm hoards like this were only found in the Grimm Lands between Vacuo and Vale where no humans or Faunus lived. For one to be here then something must be wrong. He just hoped a single Bomber Squadron would be enough to deal with most if not all of the Grimm in the valley.

"Hey Prof, I think we're gonna need that air support you promised," Coco said, not keen with the idea of facing all the Grimm they were now watching.

"Sure, I'll call them now," Michael said as he magically appeared a radio and antenna and began to set them up. So that was what his Semblance was. Some kind of storage ability, he could store an object or objects somewhere before summoning them as he required. it explained where the suit had gone and how he got his new apparel. A useful support Semblance but not a combat orientated one.

"So what's the plan Coco," asked Fox.

"We have the Aegis bombers hit the Grimm first. If any survive we mop them up. Then go back to the village, give them the good news and be back in time for the Ball and have the best night of our lives."

"You mean of our lives so far right? It would be disappointing if _the_ best night of our lives was some Ball at Beacon before we even turned 20." Fox interjected.

"Come on Fox, show a little excitement. It's the Vytal Ball, one of the most prestigious Balls a Huntsman can attend. Not to mention Velvet and I planned most of it, from the music to the Ballroom design and the dress code. You did buy the suit I picked out for you, right?" Coco inquired.

"It was too expensive for my price range. I bought one that looks the same for a hundred lien less. Same look, half the price." Fox defended.

"But it won't be the same quality as the one I picked out," Coco spoke, asserting her expertise when it came to fashion.

"You should know by now that you don't argue or question with Coco's decisions when it comes to fashion." came Yatushashi's calm voice.

"You could have asked Coco for a loan to help pay for the suit. She helped me get my dress for the ball." Velvet pointed out. It wasn't exactly hidden that Coco had a larger than most monthly stipend than most students at Beacon.

"Exactly Fox, you should follow the advice of your glorious and fashionable leader like your other teammates do." Coco boasted.

"But of course, my glorious and fashionable leader. I now do see the error my lowly ways and shall endeavour to aspire to the standards set by our infallible leader." Fox said in an exaggerated tone one might address the lords and nobles of old with. The team broke out in mild laughter at the antics their team had become known for, mostly down to the larger than life character their leader was.

"Fox, after we get back tomorrow, before the Ball begins in a weeks time, I'm dragging you into Vale to buy that suit." Coco declared.

"I guess I'll just have to accept the inevitable and just go along with you then," Fox said in mock dejectedness.

"Copy Viper 47, Bravo 595 out." Michael's voice could be heard behind them. He got up and turned to face them as the radio set and antenna disappeared in a white glow, "Good news, bombers are just about under three hours away. I'm going to have to use a laser designator to give them the precise location we want to hit so we're going to have to shadow them for a little bit longer. If all goes well you shouldn't have any Grimm to deal with but be prepared all the same. We are going to have be sure we got them all before we can head back. We have to wait until 1840 hours before Viper 47 arrives. That means we have at least another fifteen miles of walking considering the speed of the Grimm Hoard. You've done well so far, let's not get sloppy just before we reach the halfway point."

"Don't worry about us. We'll do fine." came Coco's confident reply.

"Good. I'd hate for you to miss the best part of this entire mission."

"The thanks, praise and safety of the villagers?" asked Velvet.

"I suppose if that's want, sure. I'm talking about the 504,000Kg worth of explosives about to be dropped on top of some very unfortunate Grimm." Coco found it hard to miss the dangerous smirk that spread across Michael's face at the prospect of the destructive force that only 16 bombers had. Likely catching on to the reactions of Coco and her team, Michael quickly explained himself.

"Trust me, you'll understand when you witness it yourselves."

"I'll hold you to that."

* * *

"Viper 47, this is Bravo 595. Laser target designator, 38.65. Target, Grimm in the open." Michael's cold and precise voice seemed to carry through the cool twilight air. The sun was disappearing over the mountains to the west, casting a hue of pinks, yellows and orange across the cloudy sky.

As it had turned out they had ended up walking 17 miles downstream following the Grimm before Michael had signalled for them to stop. he had them preceded to summon a binocular-like device he had called a laser designator which was mounted on a tripod which he had set up to face the oncoming Grimm Hoard as her team had taken up perimeter positions. Since they had stopped moving around ten minutes ago, she felt her legs ache and burn from all the walking they'd done. She'd done some stretches but the aches still remained.

"Up there, about 5 o'clock high." Michael pointed out. Coco, like the rest of her team, turned a looked in the direction instructed by Michael. Coco could just make out the vapour trails from behind the engines of the bombers which were too far up to see them in any actual detail. At first, she couldn't hear them but the low rumble of their engines became steadily louder as they flew overhead.

"Eye's front people." Was the last clear sound Coco heard before the everything was overpowered by the sound of dozens of JDAM munitions lit up the length of the valley inhabited by the passing Grimm Hoard. The explosives covered the entire width of the valley and travelled from just in front of the Grimm Hoard right the way to its rear. Earth, grass, trees and scrubs were lifted up and sent high into the air in great balls of smoke with flashes of yellow and orange. Coco was sure she had never experienced anything as loud as she was now. From the corner of her eyes, she caught Velvet clutching her ears which were matted down against her head. Coco was certain that Baeid Village was hearing the bombing run.

"Viper 47, this is Bravo 595. Good effect on target, we'll take it from here." Michael spoke into his radio after the last bomb had detonated. The smoke was beginning to lift revealing the churned up landscape beneath. Trees had been mutilated regardless of whether they were still standing or not, the rims of craters could be seen from where the bombs had fallen in the soft earth. In the distance, the sound of the explosions could be faintly heard reverberating off the other valleys.

"Ooh, ho, ho, hooo. Outstanding." Michael said sounding very pleased. Coco could see why, aside from the awesome fiery display, the bombers had managed, or at least appeared to, have taken out the entire Grimm Hoard that had moments before taken up a sizeable area of the valley. Not even the two massive and ancient Goliaths had survived. Due to their size and power they hadn't yet dissipated like the lower tier Beowolfs, Ursa and King Taijutus did. One Goliath had seemed to have been struck on the centre of its back was currently lying in two halves. The other was missing its head. What would have taken nearly a hundred huntsmen at close range to take care of, 16 B-52Hs had done the same mission with far less risk to all persons involved by comparison.

"Remind me again why the Kingdom's aren't just using these to fight the Grimm?" Velvet asked in awe.

"Because it costs almost a hundred million lien to build a single one, not to mention the reoccurring armament and maintenance costs, a huntsman is just as effective for a fraction of the price tag. Even if the equipment has better mileage than a huntsman." Michael answered as he peered through some binoculars into the burning valley seeing if he could spot any surviving Grimm.

"Is that why the Kingdom's have been scaling back on their military spending then? To save money." Asked Yatusshahi.

"To a degree. After almost 80 years of continuous peace, bar the recent blips with the White Fang, the large armies of the Great War just aren't needed anymore. And, when a company's worth of Huntsmen are equivalent to any armoured or infantry division when it comes to combating Grimm and other threats. Why spend the money on training, equipping, maintaining and then using a large conventional military versus spending around 14 to 16 years training Huntsmen who only require a place to train and payment after missions. It's why Aegis has the second largest standing military, mostly all veterans from Vale, Vacuo and Mistral who either couldn't readjust or didn't want to leave joined."

"But isn't the point of a military to fight in conflicts, why would you recruit all those soldiers when there isn't a war to fight?" Fox inquired.

"Aegis is in charge of securing Drachen for colonisation. That means a Navy to secure the coastal waters and maritime commerce routes. An Army and Marine Corps to secure the continent and surrounding islands as well as an airforce to keep the sky's clear and support the other branches. And because Aegis Defence Services is so large it has taken less than two years to colonise most of south-western, southern and eastern Drachen. The Army and Marines also help build infrastructure, communications among other nation-building activities. All while protecting other Kingdom's assets and fighting the White Fang."

"Quite the achievement." Commented Yatushashi. Coco nodded in agreement.

"It just goes to show what you can achieve if you place freedom to operate, results and efficiency before bureaucracy and restrictions. It also helps that the Aegis Corporation produces most things it needs anyway." came the matter of fact reply from Michael, still sweeping the valley with binoculars.

"If I remember correctly, hasn't Aegis come under flak recently for moving most of its production and research facilities out of the four Kingdoms to Drachen." Yatushashi had always been more aware of global events and news than the rest of them. Velvet was more focused on photography, Fox on his martial arts and herself with fashion.

"Yeah, Aegis now employs around sixtyish percent of all people living on Drachen, mostly because we moved most of our assets there. From agriculture to industry to the service economy, you name it we employ in it. Aegis is to Drachen what the Schnee Dust Company and military are to Atlas. Real fuckin' blurred where one ends and the other begins."

"All sounds a bit dystopian if you ask me," said Fox.

Michael lowered the binoculars he was using, "You have seen this bloody world we live in, right? Terrorists running amuck almost unchecked until Aegis came about, two Corporations able to bring down the entire global economy if either collapse, one of which has a military capable of taking on a Kingdom or two. With the cherry on top being the black and white murder death machines we all call Grimm."

"Point made, point taken." Fox conceded.

"I don't think the world's that bleak as you make it out to be." Velvet spoke softly.

"Maybe so, but I'm a cynic. I tend to take the negative view by default," explained Michael.

"If you believe that the world is conspiring against you, it will just do that," Yatushashi responded with one of his famous quotes.

"I see the world as it is, not like the way it ought to be. Remnant ought to be a lot of things, but it isn't. And no philosophical quote will change that," Michael dismissed Yatushi's advice, "Now that down there," Michael pointed at the valley which was still smouldering and scarred by the bombing run, "that is what makes the world a better and safer place. Deeds, not words. Besides, there are still some tango's moving down there. You better get moving if you want to make it back in time for the Ball."

* * *

It was early in the morning, the sky still dark, when they finally got back to the village. They were all tired, from both being awake so long, fighting Grimm and walking up and down hills. The good news was that the mission was over and successful and they'd be back in time for the Vytal Ball. Coco's clothes were covered and grime, dirt and sweat and needed a wash as much as she both wanted and needed a warm shower. They had been let in by the village watch at the gates who had expressed their gratitude with the threat of the Grimm Hoard gone. Michael had left them at the gate for their accommodation, saying he needed to call for their transportation and that he'd meet up with them at the Cheif's home.

"Cheif Greatoak, we're here to give you our report!" Coco called as she knocked on the chief's door. When they had entered the ruined valley they'd had to kill a surviving Beowolf pack and dozens of Gryphons and Nevermores who had survived because they had been airborne. After about two hours of fighting, they'd dealt with the Grimm before beginning the six-hour walk back to the village. After a minute she heard heavy footsteps coming from inside, likely from Greatoak coming down the stairs. She heard a yawn come from behind the door.

"Well," Greatoak paused as he had another yawn, "How did the mission go? I assume it either went."

"The Grimm Hoard has been exterminated, Your village is now safe for the time being."

"That is excellent news indeed!" Greatoak boomed in his now awake voice, "My village owes you a debt of gratitude."

"No need. It's what we huntsmen do." Velvet chimed in.

"Nevermind that, if you ever need anything, you will be welcomed in this village. Where is your professor?"

"He was calling in our transportation, he'll be here momentarily."

"I'll have the whole village assemble to see you off, they'll all want to thank you."

"I assure you that won't be necessary, as we've already said-" Coco was beginning before she was interrupted.

"Coco, Fox, Velvet, Yatushashi! There you are!" Coco turned to see Michael running towards them, a concerned look plastered on his face, "Greatoak, mobilise the militia and gather the women and children somewhere they can be kept safe. CFVY, take up positions on the western wall. I've got twelve Osprey's en route to evacuate everyone and six F-35Bs for air cover. We have around forty minutes before a minor Grimm Hoard hits this village."

"But we dealt with the hoard?" Fox said.

"Well, now there's a splinter hoard we've got to hold off so everyone can escape."

"We can't stop it and save the village?" asked Coco.

"Sometimes, all you can do is prolong the inevitable, and save what you can."

"But we should try to," Coco argued.

"No, the Professor is right. We are talking about a Grimm Hoard here, a splinter one it may be but we are talking about a Hoard none the less."

"See chief's onboard. I need you to take down the canvass covering the central meeting area in your village. The Osprey will only be able to land one by one but we should be able to get the entire village out in one trip, assuming we can last that long."

"How long is that?" Asked Yatushashi, realising that it wouldn't be as simple as holding out for the cavalry to arrive from just over the hill.

"A spy satellite picked up the hoard three hours ago using FLIR. An... associate of mine at Headquatres back in Drachen had the _Australia_ , an amphibious assault ship, scramble its complement that is able to reach us. That was an hour ago. That means they have at least have an hour thirty to an hour forty minutes before they arrive and begin to evacuate us."

"Are we getting any support beyond aircraft from the _Australia_?" Asked Greatoak.

"No. The _Australia_ and it's compliment are the closest to our location that can make it here, you may see some cruise missiles fly overhead. But there won't be any infantry loaded into those Osprey. If they come in with the initial lift, then that's a second trip that needs to be made to get them out. It would take too long."

"I understand. I'll rally the villagers and get them ready before joining you with the militia." Greatoak decided before heading back inside, likely to rouse his family before telling the other villagers.

"Good. Alright then team CFVY, move your asses like you've got a purpose. Ho'aah." Michael commanded.

 _Dammit._ Coco thought as she followed him as the rest of her team did. It wasn't supposed to end this way. They'd saved the village from the Grimm hoard. Completed the mission. These people were supposed to be safe. So why? Why did these people have to flee and abandon their homes? She knew the world was unnecessarily cruel and harsh, but still... it wasn't fair. Then again, it was one of the reasons she became a Huntress for. To ensure that things like this would affect fewer people than they had too.

* * *

 **Ozpin**

"That was all I was able to obtain, unfortunately. Aegis cybersecurity is tighter than I expected, that's not to mention their actual security on any of their bases. Especially with Drachen heating up. I doubt I'll be able to do this again Oz." Qrow's voice came through Ozpin's office terminal. He'd been on a mission for Ozpin in Drachen, investigating their newest member. For a man with a surprising amount of power, Michael Galster was not a very well known person unless you were in the right circles, namely military, arms dealing and business circles. Most people on Remnant would have no idea who he was. Yet everything he'd done could not have been accomplished without help. Ozpin knew about the A.I. the Aegis Corporation had, but it would take more than a simple A.I. to put Aegis and Michael in the position they were in. If it was Salem he wasn't sure, she had only shown interest in them a couple months ago from what Ozpin had already dug up, but someone or something was influencing Aegis from behind the scenes.

"Don't trouble yourself too much over it. We both know getting information Aegis doesn't want us to isn't easy. I'll look over what you found anyway. In the meantime, there's a mission in the Vale badlands that I need you to do for me. You will receive the details tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah. If that's all."

"Yes. Thank you Qrow." Qrow gave a grunt in response before ending the call. Ozpin got up from his chair and made his way over to his beloved coffee machine. in this lifetime coffee had become his crutch the same way drinking was Qrow's. With a warm full mug with steaming coffee in his hand, he turned to look out at the usually spectacular view he had of Vale from his tower. However, this time the view was polluted by half a dozen Atlas warships. And just beyond the horizon, Aegis had Expeditionary Strike Group 3, with a Carrier Strike Force only half a day's sail away. At least with James, he could say for certain the man's heart was in the right place. But with Michael, it was harder to say for certain. While his actions indicated the man had the best intentions, it was difficult to say whether those intentions were genuine or accidental, arising from primarily benefitting himself yet also benefiting society as a whole.

A prime example would be the White Fang. Vale until recently had been blessed with minimal White Fang activity, Vacuo and Mistral could not say the same however. Even after the war, Vacuo continued to have a White Fang problem. As an ex-serviceman would have served in Vacuo, Michael leading Aegis's entrance into rebuilding in Vacuo was not a massive surprise. It became one though when Aegis started actively engaging counter-insurgency, and as it's PMC branch grew so did the scope of its activities. A year after the kingdom's had pulled out Aegis had the White Fang on the back foot and Vacuo was returning to its pre-Great War glory, albeit slowly and as Aegis's client state.

Aegis handled the White Fang as a force with over decades worth of experience of counter-insurgency without the restraints of the Kingdom governments. Soon Aegis was allowed to operate, though in a limited capacity, in Mistral against the White Fang. While the White Fang had not diminished significantly in size, it's operations had been greatly diminished. There were fewer attacks, though some did still occur. Ozpin suspected that given time, Aegis would eventually crush the White Fang in his current lifetime. Though much of Aegis's dedication came from the fact that most of its PMC were people who had fought the White Fang, likely adding an edge of revenge to the whole private war Aegis and the White Fang had going. A personal vendetta having a positive effect for the rest of Remnant.

And while everyone's attention had been on Aegis's military, no one had seemed to notice Aegis slip its tendrils into the everyday life of people, much like the Schnee Dust Company had. It was all down to the products Aegis produced, it had rapidly introduced new technologies or modified existing ones and flooded the market with them. It produced goods faster and cheaper than any other company, and like the Schnee's they had quickly formed monopolies in most markets, though that was down to the efforts of Fenrir Umberwood.

From what Ozpin had learned though, all of Aegis's successes could be traced back to Michael to some degree or another, or rather, his Project Earth. Everything Aegis made, designs, products, weapons, food and technology came from Project Earth, Michael's and his A.I. partner's brainchild. Remnant owed those two a lot for all the things Aegis had added over the last decade. And that was what concerned him so much. If this had all happened over Michael's life then it wouldn't have concerned Ozpin. It was the fact this had taken a decade. And in that decade Aegis had Drachen and Vacuo under its thumb, its economic tendrils wrapped around Remnants economies and had the second largest standing military of over 3.5 million.

There were very few individuals who could be called true Captains of History, himself being one of them. Michael was shaping up to be one, and not entirely for the benefit of Remnant. Aegis, and by extension the Umberwoods exerted an unhealthy amount of power over Remnant, almost as much as the Schnee's did. Whoever had the loyalty of either company could shape the future of Remnant. Which made it all the more important Michael never found out the truth about Salem, more so than almost any other person. A man like Michael, realising what the world was up against who never side against her. Michael was the kind of person who only used morality for as far as it would take him, but would happily burn an entire village down if it furthered his own goals. Brothers knew what Michael would do if he realised that defeating Salem was something even he, an immortal wizard, couldn't handle.

* * *

 **Coco Adel**

Coco brought her handbag down on another Grimm's head, the Beowolf crashing into the dirt. She had never felt more tired in her entire life. They'd had twenty-seven minutes before the first Grimm showed up. The women, children and elderly had been hastily gathered in the chief's home. All the men had been gathered and armed had been mounting the village walls. Had been. About half an hour into the fight, the Grimm had made their first breach into the village. Yatushashi, Fox and some militiamen had managed to push the Grimm back through the breach. But it didn't last long, the Grimm flanked the village around the heaviest defences, her team and Michael and broken through the Southern defences. It was about then the first cruise missiles had landed.

Once the defences had been breached, despite Michael's best efforts, the militiamen had broken ranks and rushed to fight the Grimm inside the village. Michael had Chief Greatoak and the remaining militia head back to defend the landing zone with him. Michael had tasked her and her team with rounding up the militia forces that had broken rank and bringing them back to the landing zone. She had spent the last fortyish minutes doing that. On the bright side, half the militia she had come across were alive, if barely. At some point the roar of jet engines had signalled the arrival of the fighter-cover though that had lasted for around ten minutes, roughly the time it took for the missiles and 25mm ammunition to be expended forcing the jets to return to the _Australia_.

In the distance, she could hear the rhythmic and loud firing of Michael's weapon. He'd summoned it up at the wall, an M2 Browning he called it. But if she could hear it then they meant there was still a place for the survivors to be sent to.

"Coco! Over here!" She heard Velvet call out. She turned to see Velvet fending of two Ursa with two axes while a middle-aged man lay trapped under a collapsed wall. Coco began to run towards Velvet, dodging a King Taijitu that lunged at her. Coco gritted her teeth, if this had happened earlier she might've had some ammunition left for her minigun. She didn't have time to deal with the King Taijitu, she needed to help Velvet and save the man. Realising it wasn't going to catch her, the King Taijitu instead focused on a different source of negativity it could sense nearby. She dashed off towards Velvet who had just finished off one the Ursa with an axe to the neck. The other Ursa made to swipe at Velvet, but found its arm blocked by Coco's kick before being thrown into a building by a swing of her handbag. At the start of the fight she had been a bit more fanciful with her attacks, but now, she rather they just be over as soon as possible.

"Coco, help me lift this debris." Velvet's voice sounded strained as her tired body tried to lift the wall trapping the injured man.

"On three the," Coco stated and she grabbed the other end of the wall.

"One. Two. Three!" Both girls grunted as they lifted the heavy wooden wall once they were sure that the wall was just clear of the man, Coco took over the slack.

"Velvet, pull the man out now, I'm not sure how long I can hold the wall in my current state."

"Right." Velvet grabbed the man by his arms and quickly pulled him out from underneath, allowing Coco to drop the wall with a crash.

"Come on, let's get him back to the green zone."

"Sure, I'll carry him."

The minute-long walk back to the landing zone was tense. Grimm could be anywhere and they were increasingly fatigued. They rounded a corner of a burning building to see Michael manning his heavy machine gun and the two dozen or so militia capable of still fighting. She saw Fox assisting two villagers dealing with a Beowolf Alpha

"You made it back in time." Michael said between the three to four-second bursts of the M2, "Set them down to the side, the first bird is almost here."

"We're not going out to round up anyone else still out there?" If she was honest with herself, she was asking out of principle rather than any actual desire to go back out again.

"No time, we need to hold off the Grimm until all the civies are out, then we go. If anyone alive is still out there they'll have to wise up when they see the birds, or else they are staying behind." Michael said as he reloaded the M2, summoning a fresh magazine into his hand.

"Okay then." In the distance, she could barely make out the sounds of the steady chopping noise of rotors. She turned to face the north-west. She could make out the light-grey hull that was a staple of any Aegis aircraft and ship. She saw its two rotors shift their position from forward facing to upwards facing and slow the Osprey down, coming to a stop right above the hastily assembled landing zone. It's own gun mounted on the loading ramp opening up on any airborne Grimm that crossed its firing arc.

"Crouch low and cover your heads!" Michael yelled, hunching over but still firing his weapon. Coco followed his example and pulled Velvet down with her. The villagers looked confused but did as instructed.

As the V-22 descended, it's rotor wash became deafening and dust, debris and other small objects became small pieces of hazardous shrapnel. The Osprey had hardly enough room to manoeuvre, the clearing only just being large enough to accommodate the Osprey's large frame. Once landed, Coco watched Chief Greatoak lead a group of two dozen villagers from his house and to the back of the Osprey while the crew of the Osprey sorted and seated everyone. Once everyone was onboard and Greatoak was clear, the Osprey's engines picked up the rotors speed at it took off, heading away from the village. The whole process took less than two minutes from when the aircraft touched down to when it took off again.

"How long do we have to do this?" Coco asked as she dealt with a small Beowolf that attempted to jump down from a building at Michael. A powerful hit from her fist sent it crashing into the ground, leaving a slight depression in the earth.

"They're currently in a holding pattern two minutes out to avoid the bulk airborne tangos. two minutes in, three minutes on the ground, thirty seconds before the next one breaks holding pattern."

Coco did some arithmetic in her head, "That's almost an hour before we can leave." Michael also grew a concerned expression, though he didn't look particularly bothered by it. Michael probably caught Coco's tired and frustrated look as he reached for his radio, which was on his JPC vest's top left.

"Eagle Two, this is Bravo 595. How copy?... Do you think it would be possible to perform evac from the roof of Big House?... Understood. If you don't think its possible then just stick to the landing zone. Bravo 595 out."

"Well?" Coco inquired.

"V-22's going to fly by the Chief's house. If they think it's possible to, they'll hover over one side and the villagers can enter it while it's still airborne."

"While another can land here. Halfling the time we have to spend remaining here." Coco finished for him. Michael nodded in confirmation. Coco heard some screams from behind, some villagers had been violently thrown back by a rampaging Ursa. She dashed over, grabbing a fallen spear lying on the ground. Picking up her pace until she was sprinting, she used a battered cart to help propel herself above the Ursa. Landing on its back, she steadied herself as the Grimm tried to throw her off, rearing and bouncing in its attempt. She grabbed on to the Ursa's fur coat, for stability. She jammed the spear deep into the Ursa's thick neck. The creature roared the same time as the V-22 flew in overhead. The Ursa collapsed to the ground with a thud and began to dissipate into the black mist all Grimm did.

"Wonderful execution." Yatushashi's voice came from behind. He was standing with a wounded villager tossed over his shoulder with another two less wounded behind him.

"Why thank you," Coco said giving a slight bow.

"I'll get these gentlemen inside, then I'll join you out here."

"Understood Eagle Two, Bravo 595 out. Yatushashi, while you're in there. Inform the chief that people can now also be evacuated from the east facing balcony on the roof. Take Fox with you and help keep the roof clear." Yatushashi nodded to Michael's request before heading across the landing zone in a light jog, only to stop momentarily when he reached Fox to get his attention before they both headed for the house. The V-22 that had flown by had made its way back to the landing zone, slowing until it was hovering over the eastern balcony. It slowly lowered itself down, descending until the loading ramp made contact with the floor of the balcony while the remainder of the aircraft was airborne.

"Deathstalker!" Someone cried out. Coco turned her head the direction the cry had originated from. Sure enough, the heavily armoured lumbering form of a Deathstalker was making its way up a street that seemed to be almost to narrow for it the pass through, heading towards the panicking villagers. Shit, Deathstalker's required piercing weaponry or high explosives to take out. Velvet was tied down keeping the militia on the other side of the clearing alive from the assault of five Beowolves, and she lacked the ammunition necessary for her weapon to take it out.

"Michael! We got a problem!" Michael turned his head from the Ursa that was finished off from the steady fire of the Browning to see what she was referring to. Seeing her dilemma, he left the M2 browning where it was, it vanishing a few seconds later, and sprinted the twenty-five yards to where she was. He skidded to a halt on the dirt path, ending in a right foot forward kneeling position. In his hands, what she believed he had called a SMAW, appeared. Checking the area immediately around him, with her on his left and no one behind him, he aimed the SMAW at the approaching Deathstalker.

"Backblast area clear!" He yelled, "Rocket! Rocket! Rocket!" A dull, but loud, thwump resounded throughout the entire landing zone. The rocket went so fast Coco didn't even have time to track it before it hit and detonated on the Deathstalker, which momentarily vanished in a small cloud of whitish-grey smoke. She heard it let out an infuriated roar as it began to charge Michael and her.

"Reloading!"

"Michael!" She said worriedly as Michael removed the spent tube from the SMAW.

"I know." He said calmly summoning a second rocket.

"It's getting closer!" She reminded as Micahel began to place the new rocket in the SMAW.

"I know," He replied locking the tube into place.

"Backblast area clear!" He yelled once again, "Rocket! Rocket! Rocket!" This time the rocket struck the Deathstalker right in its jaw, the detonating warhead shredding the Grimm's head. The Deathstalker's now headless body collapsed onto the ground. The increasingly louder noise of a second set of rotors indicated that the third Osprey was about to join the one hovering over the Chief's house in evacuating the villagers.

"See, nothing to worry about," Michael said, de-summoning the SMAW in favour of the P90 he had used earlier which he handed to her, "You're going to need a ranged weapon, only Dust based one I have."

"What are you going to use then?"

"M590 Shotgun," He said cocking the weapon, "will blow a fist-sized hole in a Beowolf's head at twenty metres."

"Sounds- Oh my brothers! Velvet, are you okay." Coco rushed over to Velvet who was clutching her arm, which had a nasty gash from where a Beowolf's claws had nicked her. It wasn't bleeding badly but her aura had to be depleted.

"It looks worse than it feels." Velvet stated through gritted teeth as Coco examined the wound.

"Brothers. Velvet, weren't you keeping an eye on your aura levels?"

"I have been,"

Coco sighed, Velvet seemed fine and there was no sign of the wound being too deep, "Well, you got lucky this time. though, with your aura gone, you should probably get out on the next flight."

"I can still fight!" Velvet protested. Coco looked at Michael, as the professor his word was final.

"Aura is no different in effect than body armour. It protects you and keeps you alive, but you can fight perfectly fine without it. Just at greater risk. If she says she can fight, she stays." Michael decided.

"Make sure to patch yourself up first though." He ordered handing Velvet a medkit he summoned. While Michael was talking to Velvet, Coco noticed the fight had lulled. The Village militiamen were all standing around, tired and grim expressions with weapons in hand. Greatoak was leading more villagers onto the third Osprey, including his own family with Yatushashi and Fox flanking the group of villagers, as the second Osprey lifted itself higher into the air before heading off. But, the Grimm that had been attacking them for the last hour and a half there was no sign of.

"Where'd the Grimm go?" Coco wondered aloud. Michael looked up from Velvet's arm looking confused at her remark, before glancing around the landing zone and sky, becoming as equally confused as her.

"Eagle Four, This is Bravo 595. We've lost eyes on all Grimm down here, how does it look from up there?" Coco watched Michael as she waited for an answer as to where the hundreds of Grimm had gone. The only non-verbal clue she received was Michael furrowing his brows.

"Copy Eagle Four, let's not look a gift horse in the mouth. We'll continue the evac as planned. Bravo 595 out," Michael turned to her, "Grimm are holding in a hundred-metre radius of the landing zone. Eagle five says it appears they're waiting for something or looking for a weak point in our lines."

"Are Grimm smart enough for that?"

"Not ones this young, so I'm inclined to the former. They're waiting for something. I don't want to be around long enough to find out what."

"Can't say I disagree with the sentiment."

The third Osprey was lifting off into the early dawn sky. The red, orange and pink hues reflecting on the hull of the VTOL as they did on the clouds of the now crisp clear sky. Michael after clear of the rotor wash hurried over to Greatoak whom he began to speak to. Yatushashi and Fox upon seeing Velvet's wounded state walked over and joined the two of them, Yatushashi checking on Velvet.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Yatushashi. The Professor gave me a medkit to patch myself up with." Velvet said gesturing at the bloody bandages now covering her wounded arm.

"It'll heal up quickly once her aura regenerates," Fox added.

Yatushashi was just starting to smile and about to offer his hand to help Velvet up, when the ground began shaking strongly.

"What is it, Creeps?" Michael called up to him.

Fox put a hand on the ground, "Can't be; they're too strong. These are deep tremors."

"What the hell is happening now?" Coco pitched forward slightly as another tremor rocked the ground.

"Lindwurms! They're tunnelling underneath us!" Michael yelled as Fox stood up.

The ground began cracking and splitting nearby. Giant fault lines began to spread in all directions at an alarming rate stemming from the ground around the chief's home.

"We have to warn the people inside! Rally everyone, quickly!" Greatoak sped off in the direction of his house, Coco quick on his heels.

"Eagle Four, abort landing! I say again abort landing!" Michael was yelling into his radio behind her, Eagle Four had just begun its descent to the balcony, Eagle Five hanging back a ways off, waiting for its turn to land.

Coco and Greatoak had nearly reached the building, when screeching sounded overhead, followed by another noise she had never heard before.

"What the hell was tha-," a villager ahead of her started, but never finished.

The ground split and was wrenched up, flinging Coco straight back into the ground. She looked up to see a militiaman who hadn't been as lucky; he was right under the eruption of the ground, and so was flung high into the air like a ragdoll, going at least 50 feet into the air. A massive worm broke through the surface, easily towering over the two or three story buildings around it. The hulking form of the worm emerged from the dust, dirt and rock it had thrown into the air. She could see it had multiple fangs that sprang out from around its maw that were at least three metres long with the two longest around eight metres. It had no eyes as far as she could see and had a white bone faceplate over what she assumed was the head. Its neck lacked any protection until about a couple metres down the white chitin armour reappeared in overlapping segments. but most notable was the creatures enormous size. The damn thing was larger than a Goliath. The Lindwurm's mouth was opened wide with the fangs extended outwards, around the house the villagers were in. The House seemed to disappear into the Lindwurm, the Osprey that had attempted to hover over the east balcony which was trying to escape the Lindwurm's rapidly rising form failed when one of the Lindwurm's fangs cut clean through the Osprey's hull. The aircraft began to spin out of control as it lost altitude, disappearing behind some buildings before an explosion could be heard and a fireball reaching into the sky emerged. Having reached the apex of its ascent, the Lindwurm's mouth closed as it began to fall back into the hole it had come from as debris began raining down on the survivors on the landing zone.

She felt an arm grab her and begin to pull her back away from the Lindurm's vanishing form.

"Eagle Five, we need to get the fuck out here now!" Judging from the proximity of the voice it was Michael who was dragging her away.

"Can you stand?" Michael asked her.

"Yea... Yeah." Coco affirmed shakily, a little disconcerted by the Lindwurm's sudden appearance. She got to her feet, the P90 she had been given thrown from her hands. Her team was rounding up the survivors of the Lindwurms attacks which amounted to everyone who'd been outside. With the Chief's house gone, the V-22 came in faster than the others as it had more room to manoeuvre. No sooner than it had touched down, the first of the surviving militiamen were hurrying their way on board, no one wanting to be on the ground longer than they needed to be. Coco approached the aircraft from the rear, hunching over as she jogged up the loading ramp. Yatushashi was in next escorting Velvet as he came with Fox bringing up the rear. Greatoak was the last of the villagers onboard followed by Michael who stepped on last.

With Michael on board, the V-22 steadily began to lift itself into the air. Greatoak stood next to the loading ramp gunner, looking remorsefully over the remains of his village. The other survivors from the landing zone looked equally depressed. Coco, now seated at the rear of the aircraft, allowed the fatigue she was feeling to wash over her as she leant her head against the cool metal hull.

"Dammit." She heard a thud against the metal hull. Michael had slammed the side of his fist against the hull. He was standing further back than Greatoak, but he was still able to see out the back.

"What the hell was that thing?" Asked Velvet.

"A Lindwurm, They're a subterranean Grimm that are native to the Vale Grimmlands but haven't been seen since the Great War."

"Then why is there one out here?"

"I don't know. I'll report this to Ozpin, he'll take it to the Council and they can deal with it."

"I thought you didn't like Council. Something about it being detached from society and not representative of the people." Coco inquired.

"Oh, I don't. However, I do lack the capability to fight a Lindwurm, they require Huntsmen. I don't have any Huntsmen under Aegis's employ."

"What will happen to the villagers?" Velvet asked.

"They'll be taken aboard the _Australia._ We'll patch them up, then they can decide where we drop them off, the frontier, Vale, Drachen, anywhere really. It's up to them."

"Well, at least they have the opportunity to start over again," Fox concluded.

"Get some rest, you probably don't even realise how tired you all are with the adrenaline in your system."

* * *

 **Omake [Canon]**

 **The World of Remnant: The Aegis Corporation**

Okay, what was I supposed to talk about next? Oh, yeah. The Aegis Corporation. If you thought the Schnee's were bad, these guys give them a run for their lien.

As you all know our survival in the world of Remnant depends on almost entirely on a crystallized substance known as Dust. It powers our cities, fuels our machines and gives us some fighting chance against the creatures of Grimm, etcetera... etcetera... That was until Aegis came along. Similar to the Schnee dust company, it is almost impossible to buy non-Dust based products without the Aegis Shield logo stamped somewhere on the product.

The Aegis Corporation started out as a small manufacturing business in Vale's own industrial district, specialising in weapons for the Vale military. With the end of the Great War, the demand for weapons significantly decreased. Realising that if changes weren't made, the company would go under. Clovis Umberwood shifted production from weapons production to the growing electronics market. For a time, Aegis was doing well, until a number of recessions of the Vale economy almost forced the business to close down. Aegis was on the verge of Bankruptcy when Fenrir Umberwood took over the company.

Fenrir was a devious businessman, among many other less than reputable things I should call him. With a lot of shady deals later, Aegis was back on its feet and expanding, completely dominating the electronics industry, until there almost wasn't any competition left. Then when the global recession hit a decade ago, Fenrir took advantage of the Four Kingdom's need to stimulate their economies by going back to Aegis's roots of arms manufacturing. Four massive contracts, selling new weapons in massive amounts to the Kingdoms.

With the profits they made selling weapons to the kingdoms, they branched out into every conceivable industry they could worm their way into, often buying smaller companies and making them larger under Aegis's umbrella. A lot of these products sold by Aegis's puppet brands have stemmed from Aegis's elusive Project Earth, which has produced everything from alternative energy sources to weapons and consumer goods. Even achieving their own successful Space Program. Most of which have some connection to Michael Galster, the current heir to the Corporation, as far as I can tell.

Aegis is also the only Corporation on Remnant that fields its own military. Over three and a half million men, back up with a six-hundred ship navy with thousands of aircraft and armoured vehicles, Aegis is more than capable of going toe to toe with any Kingdom, even Atlas. Though it has predominantly focused on dealing with the White Fang.

To this day Aegis is still the largest weapons producer in the world and owns hundreds of consumer brands. Even directly controlling their own country with Drachen, a feat not even the Schnee's can boast. What they, and Michael, intend for Remnant's future… only time will tell…


	8. Mons Glen

Falling Skies

Chapter 8

Mons Glenn

 **Ozpin**

"They were here... Ozpin, they were here!" Said Ironwood raising his voice as he angrily slammed his fist against Ozpin's desk.

"We're very much aware of that! Thank you, James." Bit back Glynda. Ozpin found himself slowly dragging his hands down his face as he felt a migraine coming on from James's and Glynda's bickering.

"Fantastic! You're aware! Now are we going to do something about it, or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?!" James snapped back. An alert sound from his desks started to bleep, signifying that someone has arrived on the elevator.

"Come in," Ozpin said calmly, covering his desire for something to happen to distract from the rising tension within his office. The argument between Glynda and James had been spiralling out of control despite his best efforts to peace keep. They had now been bickering for a solid five minutes, hopefully young Ruby's testimony could put a pin in the argument of his two associates. The elevator door opened with a slight ping, Ruby Rose nervously stepped out into the room, likely off put by any yelling she had heard on her way up.

"Sorry it took so long. Someone accidentally hit all the buttons on the elevator on the way up here," She paused before quickly explaining herself, "It wasn't me."

"Thank you for coming, Ruby. How are you feeling?" Ozpin asked.

"Okay, I guess. I'd feel better if my bad-guy-catching record wasn't zero-for-three."

Glynda and James stared silently at her. If it wasn't for the fact that one of the Queen's pawns was behind the incident last night, or the severity of the matter, he himself would be smiling at Ruby's childishness, something that no one should have to lose too soon.

"Okay, so that's the tone we're going for, got it." Ruby said, feeling embarrassed at her conduct. Her right arm rubbing the back of her head like some kind of nervous tick.

"Ruby, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that I think what you did last night is exactly what being a Huntress is all about. You recognized a threat. You took action. And you did the very best you could." Ironwood encouraged placing his hand reassuringly on her shoulder. It was good to see James reassure the young huntress, she had been relentlessly question by Atlas personnel the night before, it would've been nice to receive some support from someone who wasn't her team or friends.

"Thank you, sir."

"Now, the general here has already informed us of the events that... transpired last night, but now that you've rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add." Ozpin inquired.

"Was anyone else with her? Did she look familiar to you at all?" Glynda pressed.

"I... I don't know. She was wearing a mask, and she never said anything to me. But I know she fought with glass. I don't think that was her Semblance, though. Her clothing lit up whenever she attacked."

"Save for the glass, that sounds like the woman I fought the night we met Ruby." Glynda reminded him.

"Embedding Dust into clothing is an age-old technique. It could have been anyone." Ironwood pointed out.

"Wait. You think this girl is connected to Torchwick and the White Fang?" Ruby asked, likely trying to further her team's investigation into the recent White Fang activity in Vale.

"It's possible. But we still lack the required evidence to link the two together." Though the case was the two were likely working together under Salem, but that wasn't something Ruby needed to know about yet, or better still, ever.

"Actually, I... I think I remember her saying something about a hideout, or something, in the southeast. Just outside the Kingdom." Ruby suddenly ' _remembered'_.

"Interesting," Ozpin smirked, Ruby was giving them the information they had found from their investigation and using the CCT Tower break-in as a cover to pass along the information.

"I thought you said the intruder never—" Glynda began before Ozpin cut her off.

"Thank you for your cooperation, Ruby. Why don't you go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you."

"Any time."

"And Miss Rose, please try and be ... discreet about this matter." Ozpin reminded the young huntress.

"Yes sir."

Ironwood waited until Ruby had left on the elevator before he spoke up, "Well there we have it. We send as many troops as we can to the southeast, find out exactly what's going on, and eradicate any forces that stand in our way."

Glynda growled in frustration, "Why must your answer to everything involve a triumphant display of military bravado!? You treat every situation like it's a contest of measuring di—!"

"Glynda!" Ozpin warned, attempting to regain control of the situation before another argument broke out, and she accused him of acting childish.

"Well, he does," Glynda said as she crossed her arms.

"She's right. As much as I too would love to end this situation once and for all, we must remember that this may go beyond Vale. Beyond Beacon. And if this truly is part of some master plan for which we know not the final move, we mustn't be so bold. Nor can we risk the spread of panic." Ozpin reminded them, while he knew he could not defeat Salem, he could always stop her plan.

"I have served you faithfully for years... but if you mean to tell me that your plan is to really hold the defences, and wait—!"

"It is not!" Ozpin said with a raised voice, abruptly standing from his chair, his voice now calm again "You're a general, James. So tell me, when you prepare to go to war, which do you send in first? The flag bearers, or the scouts?" Students counted as scouts, right?

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

When Ruby got back to her dorm from meeting with Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood, her team immediately rushed her. "What happened?!" demanded Yang.

"Uh, um… well… The Headmaster wanted to discuss what happened last night at the CCT Tower, Miss Goodwitch was there as well as General Ironwood. I told them what happened and mention that there was a base to the south-east of Vale, the one Blake and Sun discovered at the meeting."

"That was a risky move," commented Weiss.

"No," said Blake, "I think you handled it well."

"I hope so," said Ruby with a shrug. The only other time she'd needed to give a report to an officer was the Dust Shop attack and the Dock's incident. It wasn't exactly a new experience but she felt guilty she couldn't offer more useful information.

"I'm sure everything will be all right, Ruby," added Yang. "Oh! I know what will cheer you up."

"What's that?"

"I don't know? Dad sent it to us," said Yang, placing a medium-sized box on the floor. "I thought we could open it together."

"Something from home!" Ruby squealed. Dad always loved to spoil his 'little girls' as he called Yang and her much to their ire. Ruby looked on eagerly as Yang peeled back the tape on the box and opened its flaps. Everyone looked on in anticipation as a small, round, furry item jumped to life. It barked. Ruby and Yang squealed, Weiss recoiled, and Blake jumped onto Ruby's bunk.

"Zwei!" cheered Ruby, scooping up the corgi, giggling as Zwei happily licked her face.

"Your dad sent a dog?!" Blake hissed.

"In the mail?!" Weiss questioned.

"Oh, he does stuff like this all the time," explained Yang nonchalantly. Ruby felt she and her sister should be concerned that such occurrences like this no longer phased the two of them, but with the events of last night she felt to burnt out emotionally to care.

"Your father or your dog?" asked Blake, still hiding on her bunk eyeing Zwei cautiously.

Weiss leaned in to get a better look at Zwei as he panted in her face. "Do you mean to tell me that this… mangy… drooling… mutt… is going to wiv with us foreva?! Oh, yes, he is. Yes, he is! Oh, isn't he adorable?!" she fawned. Ruby never really imagined Weiss being much of a dog person, nor one who cared for pets. Though perhaps she could use Zwei to bond more with Weiss.

Blake was as not amused. "Please keep it away from my belongings."

Suddenly, there was a message on the PA from Glynda. _"Would all first-year students please report to the amphitheatre."_

"Well, we can't just leave him here while we're gone for a week," noted Weiss whilst petting Zwei affectionately.

Yang looked deeper into the box. "Look. There's a letter. 'Dear girls. I've got to leave the island for a few days so I'm sending Zwei to you to take care of. Enclosed is all the food you should need. Love you both. Taiyang.'" Yang tipped over the box and a mountain of cans of dog food fell out.

"What is he supposed to do with that?" asked Weiss.

Yang shook the box and a can opener fell out as well. "Welp. That settles it. C'mon, girls. Zwei will be here when we get back."

As Weiss passed Zwei, she continued with the baby talk. "Oh, I'll miss you so much! We're going to be best friends. I can't wait to see you again. You're so cute!"

Blake meanwhile jumped from Ruby's bed to a table and to the door.

Ruby however considered Zwei very intently. She didn't feel right about leaving him behind and surely Yang hadn't considered the mess and mischief he would cause while they were gone. But how could she take him on the mission with her?

Ruby racked her brain until the idea hit her. "That's it!"

* * *

As Team RWBY made their way into the amphitheatre, Ruby wore a rather large Beacon Academy backpack, though no one had stopped to question her about it yet. As they stood with Team JNPR, nobody seemed to notice that it was breathing.

"Quiet. Quiet, please," said Glynda from the stage. "Professor Ozpin would like to share a few words before we begin."

"Today, we stand together, united. Mistral. Atlas. Vacuo. Vale. Drachen. The Five Kingdoms of Remnant. On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the world's largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself.

"We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And as you are well aware, that was something that many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: colour. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it is a trend that has held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity… through diversity."

"As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen and huntresses will work to uphold it. As first-year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman on a mission. Some of you may be taken out of the kingdom for several days. Others may work within the walls for the rest of the week. But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best." Ozpin finished his speech, exiting to applause.

Ruby turned to her team. "This is perfect! All we have to do is shadow a huntsman working in the south-east."

"Yeah," said Yang. "We'll follow him around by day and give him the slip at night."

Weiss suggested, "Let's check 'Search and Destroy.'"

The girls went up to one of the many holographic screens around the amphitheatre, The Holographic screens were nothing more than a sheet of silver metal sticking up from the ground with a thin glass pane a foot wide and a metre high. Scanning the missions list, going through Search and Rescue, Escort, Perimeter Defence until she found a Search and Destroy mission that required Grimm to be cleaned out in a part of Vale known as quadrant five. "What about this one?" asked Ruby.

"Well, it's in the south-east," said Blake.

"Sounds perfect," added Yang.

Ruby touched the screen and it asked for her to enter their team name. She did so, but a message popped up saying _'Mission Unavailable to First-Year Students'_.

"Wonderful," quipped Weiss. "Never mind the fact that this event is for first-years only."

"Any other ideas?" asked Blake.

"We mail ourselves there," suggested Ruby jokingly.

"Well, that's one option," said Ozpin, walking up behind them as if from nowhere. "Unfortunately, we determined that the concentration of Grimm was too extreme for first-year students. It seems that particular region is rather popular. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that the four of you will make your way there no matter which job you choose."

Yang, Blake, and Weiss unsubtly glared at Ruby.

She shrugged sheepishly. "Whatever makes you say that?"

"I'm still curious as to how you all found yourselves at the docks last semester. I'm interested to know how you really learned about a 'hideout' in the south-east. And I certainly wonder why witnesses reported seeing robots and rose petals in a dance club some time ago." Ozpin nonchalantly asked them.

Ruby smiled and tried to look as cute as possible—it had always worked on her father.

"I doubt I'll ever find the exact answers I'm looking for. So, how about this: instead of waiting for you all to break the rules, why don't we just bend them?" Ozpin took out a full-sized Scroll, gave it a few taps, and the girls instantly received a mission confirmation on their individual Scrolls.

"We won't let you down," spoke Ruby determinedly, "Thank you, Professor."

"Do not thank me for this. Teamwork and persistence have carried you far, but you must understand that the things awaiting you beyond the protection of the kingdom will not care. Stay close to your huntsman at all times, and do exactly as he says. He will be leading you on this mission, and he can have you sent back to Beacon, if he finds your skills to be unsatisfactory. Good luck," said Ozpin as he left walking towards the main school building.

As they made their way to the air docks through the crowds of students, Yang said, "That wasn't exactly uplifting."

"But it's the truth," added Blake, she knew better than anyone in the team given her history.

"It's going to be tough," said Ruby. "But I know we can do it."

"Hey! Team CFVY is back!" A student who Ruby didn't recognise spoke as he dashed past them. Looking up Ruby saw a MV-22 Osprey touching down on the nearby landing pad. A tired, worn out, depressed looking team CFVY walked out, followed by a stoic Professor Galster. Students from all the Beacon years gathered round to watch them. Blake peeled off from the group and headed towards Velvet. Ruby, Weiss, and Yang followed after Blake.

"Velvet? Are you okay?" Asked Blake, curious like everyone else as to what had happened yet concerned all the same.

"I'm fine. I had Yatsuhashi to look out for me." Velvet attempted placate their concern, unwilling to expand further.

"Your mission was supposed to end a week ago! What happened?" Weiss interrogated, jumping straight to the matter.

"Nothing happened. It was just ... there were just so many..." Velvet looked up, "Oh, but don't worry. You first-years are just shadowing Huntsmen, so you should be fine." Velvet reassured them.

"Right." Yang disbelievingly agreed.

"I should go. Be safe, okay?" Velvet quickly scampered off to catch up with the rest of her team.

"We can do this. We've never backed down before, and we're not going to start now." Ruby announced in an attempt to rouse their spirits.

"Right," Yang affirmed.

"Besides, it won't only be us out there. We'll be fighting alongside a genuine huntsman!" Ruby continued, her excitement progressively growing.

"Yeah!" said Yang.

All their spirits had been lifted, until they made it to the air dock and found Professor Oobleck, looking like he was about to go on safari, waiting for them. "Why, hello, girls! Who's ready to fight for their lives?!"

"Professor Oobleck?" said Weiss incredulously.

"Yes. I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary, girls," he said as fast as a machine gun, seeing Ruby's backpack, "as you have opted to shadow a huntsman on what is essentially a reconnaissance mission. I can assure you we will not be establishing a single base of operations, rather we will be traversing several miles of hazardous wasteland and making camp in any defend-able locations we may stumble upon. I've packed all our essentials myself, plotted the air course, and readied the airship. And!" he said, getting in Weiss' face, "it's Doctor Oobleck. I didn't earn a Ph.D. for fun. Thank you very much."

"Uh…?" Weiss trailed off, trying to keep up with the Professor's… Doctor's, she corrected herself, rambling.

"Come now, children. According to my schedule, we are already three minutes behind… schedule!" Doctor Oobleck then zipped away and aboard the airship.

Ruby tried to seem upbeat. "Well… all right then. Looks like we're going to save the world with Dr. Oobleck." After a pause, she went, "Okay, yeah. When you say it out loud it sounds worse."

"Save the world?!" shrieked someone from behind RWBY. They turned and saw Team JNPR.

"You're going on world-saving missions without us?!" complained Nora in her over the top fashion, "I'm hurt! Sad! Maybe a little hungry. That last one's not your fault though… Ren!"

Ren turned away from Nora. Ruby guessed Ren hadn't made pancakes that day. Nora always became a little grouchy when she didn't have pancakes in the morning, a bit like dad when he didn't have his morning coffee.

"Sounds exciting," said Jaune. "Where you are going?"

"Oh, just outside the kingdom," replied Ruby.

"Hey! So are we," said Nora.

"Ren and Nora wanted to shadow the sheriff of a nearby village," explained Pyrrha.

"We set out tomorrow," added Ren.

"Then you can party with us tonight!" said Neptune, as he and Sun appeared. "We're shadowing a crime specialist. All inner-city detective stuff. We get junior badges."

Jaune looked like envy had struck him hard.

"We normally go to the city with you guys," started Sun, "which means stuff's always exploding and junk. So, we thought that this might be a better way to check out the kingdom when it's, you know, normal."

"Well," began Ruby.

"Four minutes, ladies!" shouted Oobleck from the airship.

There was a pregnant, awkward pause. Ruby finally spoke, "Well, uh, wish us luck." And with that, Team RWBY said goodbye to JNPR and to Neptune and Sun as they boarded the airship.

"I guess I never saw you as much of a fighter," Yang said over the powerful roar of the gravity dust jet engines lifting the Bullhead into the air.

"I admit I fancy myself more of an intellectual, but I can assure you, as a huntsman, I've had my fair share of tussles."

"Like the mushroom?" said Ruby.

"Those are truffles," corrected Blake.

"Like the sprout?"

"Those are brussels," said Yang.

"Besides," continued Oobleck, "given my expertise in the field of history as well as my dabbling's in archaeological surveys, our dear headmaster saw it fit to assign me to this particular… assignment."

"What does history have to do with this?" asked Weiss.

"Why, what a preposterous question, you silly girl. Why, history is the backbone of our very society. And the liver! And the kidneys, too, if I were to wager."

"And that means…?"

"The south-east quadrant outside of Vale is home to wild forests and deep caves. But! It is also the location to one of the kingdom's greatest failures."

"Mountain Glenn," said Ruby.

"That's right!" said Yang. "It was an expansion of Vale. But in the end, it was overrun by Grimm and fenced off from the rest of the city."

"Correct!" said Oobleck. "And now it stands abandoned as a dark reminder."

"And a likely place for a hideout," concluded Blake.

"Precisely."

* * *

The airship circled above the derelict remains of Mountain Glenn and descended into a suitable clearing. Team RWBY dropped from it already for action and Doctor Oobleck… with his thermos handy. The airship departed as soon as they had all disembarked. The city before her was a strange sight behold.

Mountain Glenn appeared to be a city that was never finished. A multitude of grey hues and black shadows covered every building, structure, and road she could in every direction. Windows were either completely smashed in or had jagged bits of glass protruding from them. Steel beam skeletons of buildings that had been started but never completed before the city fell could be seen. Crumbled down walls and roofs were part of almost every building, with grass and vines finding purchase in the debris and cracks on the ground and high walls.

"Ladies! You still may be students, but as of this moment, your mission as huntresses has begun. From this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?"

The girls nodded, but Oobleck noted a discrepancy.

"Ruby! I thought I told you to leave all your bags back at school," he said, seeing the rather large backpack still with her.

Ruby was quick with a counter, "But, you hadn't told us to listen to you, yet. So… I didn't."

"She's not wrong…" Oobleck said to himself rubbing his chin. "Very well, Ruby. Leave your bag here. We can pick it up upon our return."

"But, I… uh…" Ruby stuttered.

"Young lady! What in the world could you possibly have in that bag that could be so important to bring it with y—"

Zwei's head popped out. Ruby's eyes widened as the rest of her team looked at her worriedly. Ruby turned to Zwei. "Get back in the bag!" she whispered to the Corgi.

"We're here to investigate an abandoned, urban jungle, teeming with death and hostility, and you brought… a dog?"

"I, uh—!"

"Genius!" declared Doctor Oobleck. He scooped Zwei out of the backpack and started carrying him around. "Canines are historically known for their perceptive nose and heightened sense of sound, making them excellent companions for a hunt such as ours!"

Zwei barked happily at the attention while Ruby smugly smiled. "I'm a genius."

Weiss and Yang facepalmed while Blake eyed Zwei warily.

"So, what are your orders, Doctor?" asked Blake.

"Ah, yes! Straight to the chase. I like it!" Oobleck dropped Zwei. "As you have been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for Grimm activity. Now there are several possible explanations for this behaviour, one of which being—Grimm."

The girls leaned in. They didn't understand. "Uh, what?" said Ruby.

"Grimm," repeated Oobleck looking past the girls, "A creature of Grimm. Approximately one-hundred yards from us at this very moment."

"What?!" said Yang.

RWBY turned and saw a lone Beowolf as it wandered into the street and sniffed at the ground. The girls armed their weapons at the lone Grimm.

"Stop!" ordered Oobleck. "There are a number of reasons why Grimm would congregate in this particular area. The most likely of which would be their attraction to negativity. Sadness, envy, loneliness, hatred. All qualities that are likely held by our hidden group harbouring ill intent."

"So… what now?" asked Ruby.

"We wait. We track. If this specimen leads us to its pack, that pack may subsequently lead us to our prey."

"How long do we wait?" asked Yang.

"It's uncertain. Hours. Days. Weeks. Why, lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months—and there's the whole pack," concluded Oobleck as more Beowolves entered the street.

"What?" said Weiss.

"And now they've seen us."

"What?!" Weiss spoke louder this time.

"And now they've seen us!" Yelled Oobleck.

"I take it tracking is out of the question," said Ruby.

"An accurate assumption, yes."

"What's the plan, then?" said Yang as the pack charged them.

"Show me what you're capable of," ordered Oobleck.

"Cover your ears Zwei." Ruby commanded.

Yang gladly charged the pack head-on. Yang used her gauntlets to propel herself forwards. Her sister raised her fists and proceeded to systematically punch the nearest Beowolf and using her momentum to reach the next one. By the time Yang ceased her charge, seven Beowolfs lay crumpled on the floor. Within a few seconds the pack had regained its sense, she had no pause for celebration however as several Beowolves started chasing her. Some of the pursuing Grimm became distracted by Blake, who stood still in the middle of the street. The Beowolves surrounded her. When Blake made no move to respond they all simultaneously lunged at her, but Blake dodged their attack with one of her shadow clones and proceeded to slice the first one in half, before killing the second in the same manner, jumping over the third one's swipe and cutting it in twain as well.

Weiss meanwhile quickly garnered the attention of several Grimm herself who began to encircle her. Thinking quickly Weiss summoned her glyphs. She launched herself straight through the pack and with several fanciful and artistic cuts, they all fell. Ruby meanwhile was providing support with suppressive fire. Eventually, what was left of the pack turned their attention to her. Ruby flourished her scythe and shot right at them using her weapon's recoil. With a few quick slashes, they all lay dead at her feet. She turned to Doctor Oobleck. "Heh. Piece of cake."

"Do not celebrate yet. For I am certain this is the first bout of many. Shall we continue?"

Doctor Oobleck led the girls through Mountain Glenn, looking for anything that may give him a clue as to where their query was hidden. While he did that, he relied on the girls to fight off the many Grimm. After stopping to observe some long dead growth and allow the girls to clear away a few Beowolves, Oobleck said, "Excellent work, girls. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any signs of criminal activity in this sector. Oh well! Moving along."

The girls followed, but Yang had a contention. "Hey, Doc! You know, I was actually looking forward to seeing a pro huntsman in action. Like fighting, or at least, helping us fight."

"Ah, but I am in action: scouring the ruins of this once great city for any signs of irregularity. Not every mission is full of daring and heroism, girls. Sometimes it's just a heightened form of extermination. Remember: this is a job, and you all signed up for it. I do hope you understand that." Oobleck reminded.

Yang stammered. "Well, yeah." She looked at the others for support but didn't find any. It wasn't that she didn't want to support her sister, its just that… well… she didn't want to look bad in front of Oobleck… yeah… "I mean, of course."

* * *

 **Dr. Oobleck**

"Hmm." Following that exchange, Oobleck started paying more attention to Team RWBY. He noticed several interesting things, but when he examined Yang and compared her to the rest of the team, he noticed that her shot-gauntlets forced her to get quite close to her enemy, much closer than any of the others. He also noticed how Yang was much more aggressive. This piqued his interest, and after another pack of slain Grimm, Oobleck spoke, "Tell me, Yang: why did you choose this line of work?"

"Huh?" Acting like it was obvious, "Well, to fight monsters and save—"

"No! That is what you do. I want to know why you do it. The honest reason as to why you want to be a huntress." Oobleck clarified.

"The honest reason?" Yang sighed. She fidgeted for a second. "I'm a thrill seeker. I want to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many crazy adventures as I can. And if I help people along the way, that's even better. It's a win-win, you know?"

Oobleck mentally sighed, young huntsmen and huntresses were becoming frequently more like her. People doing it for the thrill first, people second. While not something incredibly bad, it was a far cry from the vast majority huntsmen and huntresses of his generation, many of whom were motivated by honour, duty, a clearly defined sense of justice. Fighting to protect people, rather than for personal gain.

He supposed this kind of thing was down to the changing nature of society within Kingdoms. People lived safe and cushy lives compared to the many generations before them, even their parents' generation when growing up still lived in relative constant danger. A seemingly good way of breaking the seemingly pervasive boredom and monotony of a modern life, a career as a huntsman would appear a good choice.

* * *

Oobleck was quiet for a second, watching team RWBY dispatch another pack of Beowolves. "I see." He then turned to Weiss. "And you, Miss Schnee. A girl born into fame and fortune such as yourself certainly doesn't need the extra work. So, why choose this over a cushy job in Atlas?"

"It's exactly as you said," said Weiss. "I'm a Schnee. I have a legacy of honour to uphold. Once I realized I was capable of fighting, there was no longer a question of what I would do with my life. It was my duty."

"Interesting." He commented, jumping down from his perch of a brick wall. An answer he was familiar with, duty. The aged old recruitment cry, duty to one's nation, duty to one's people and duty to one's family. The question in regard to the young Schnee heiress, was to whom her duty was too. Oobleck doubted she really understood who she owed her duty to, no doubt her father had hounded into her about duty to the family. It would be interesting to see where Weiss's sense of duty would take her.

* * *

"And what about you, Blake? You seem to carry yourself with a sense of purpose." He asked after she finished off a bunch of baby Nevermores.

"There's too much wrong in this world to just stand by and do nothing. Inequality. Corruption. Someone has to stop it."

"Very well," said Oobleck. "How?"

"I… uh…" Blake suddenly looked very disappointed with herself, unable to come up with an answer. Oobleck couldn't really fault her for wanting to change things, by all rights the girl was correct to an extent, by action without a plan was a recipe for disaster. His colleague Michael, whom he liked to consider a friend, was acting in a manner similar to Blake. Though, unlike Michael who had planned on what to do with Drachen and the White Fang, Blake didn't know how to achieve her goal. It would require a lot of thinking, planning and effort on her part. But something told him that she may just be able to pull it off.

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Ruby was playing with Zwei, a chew toy in the shape of a cooked chicken attached to the end of Crescent Rose which she used to prompt tricks from Zwei. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Doctor Oobleck looking at her. She quickly transformed Crescent Ros back into its carry form.

"Sorry! Uh, are we ready to keep going?"

Oobleck looked around. "No, I believe that will have to do for today. It's going to be dark soon," He suddenly tossed their camping equipment at Yang, "You three, set up camp in that building. And please make sure that there are no more of those… creatures. Your leader and I are going to secure the perimeter. Come, Ruby," said Oobleck as he walked away. Ruby ran after Doctor Oobleck. As they were securing the perimeter, they rounded a corner at the end of a street, and Ruby saw something unlike anything she had before. Several black and white creatures looking like elephants were several hundred yards outside of the city limits. But they were large. Dwarfing the trees around them.

"What is that?" said Ruby awed. "It looks awesome."

"That, my dear girl, is a Grimm."

Ruby was shocked. The only Grimm she had ever seen that big was a Nevermore. But they were the exception, weren't they? To see so many large Grimm in one location was truly stunning. And Ruby loved the idea of the challenge they posed. "Let's kill it," she said, pulling out Crescent Rose.

Oobleck almost laughed. "I'm afraid your sniper rifle will do nothing more than agitate a Grimm of that size."

"But! What if they attack us?"

"Fret not, Ruby. Those Goliaths are not concerned with us. Ruby, not every Grimm is mindless, or rather, not every Grimm is still mindless. You see, the Grimm you see before you are so powerful, so superior to the Grimm you fought, that they have undoubtedly lived hundreds of years. And in that time, between killing humans and attacking our borders, they've done one important thing: they've learned—they've learned that when they attack our borders, they are likely to die. And what we lack in strength, we make up for in will. And that killing one human will only bring more."

"Then… why are they still so close to the city? What are they doing?" She asked worriedly.

"Waiting."

Oobleck waited for the herd of Goliaths to proceed by before turning his back on them and walking back to camp.

Ruby trotted after him. "Doctor Oobleck? I was wondering…"

"Wondering why I interrogated your teammates all day?"

"Actually, I was wondering, why did you want to become a huntsman?"

"Look around and tell me what you see."

"Lots of old buildings… uh, empty streets…"

"I see lives that could've been saved. As a huntsman, it's my job to protect the people, and although I'm capable of doing it with traditional weaponry, I believe I can make a much larger impact if I do it with my mind. As a teacher, I am able to take knowledge, the most powerful weapon of them all, and place it into the hands of every student who passes through my classroom. I look at this wasteland and I see lives that could've been saved. But I also see an opportunity—an opportunity to study these ruins and learn from this tragedy. And therefore, become stronger.

"I am a huntsman, Ruby, because there is nothing else in this world I would rather be," Oobleck spoke as they walked back through the ruined streets of Mountain Glenn.

Ruby recoiled slightly. To hear Doctor Oobleck speak so eloquently about his calling to be a huntsman was inspiring and humbling. Doctor Oobleck wasn't a huntsman for the fame or glory, and he didn't become a professor because he wanted to escape the dangers of the field—he had a genuine concern for the world. But to be more effective than just slaughtering a few Grimm, by teaching others, he could effectively slaughter Grimm by the hundreds via proxy. How many Grimm had he taken down total with assists alone? The numbers must have been staggering.

* * *

Back at the campsite, Yang, Blake, and Weiss had gotten a fire going. It was crackling nicely when Yang said, "I can't believe we didn't find anything."

Blake replied, "We've always been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. I guess we can't always have luck on our side."

"That's not what I meant," said Weiss suddenly. She had been quiet for a while seemingly lost in reverie. Her sudden outburst surprised the other two. "Earlier. About 'upholding the legacy.' There's more to it than that."

"Yeah," agreed Yang. "No, me too. I mean… I don't know."

"I don't know, either," said Blake. "I know what I want to do, but I figured I would always take things one step at a time."

"Well, it doesn't matter. We know why we're here. Right?"

Neither Blake nor Weiss answered.

Their silence was eventually broken by Doctor Oobleck. "Ah, wonderful! A textbook campfire."

Ruby gasped. "Fire!" She knelt next to it, only now realising how cold it was outside. "So warm…"

"Very good. Eat your dinners and hurry to bed. We have a lot of ground to cover tomorrow and we'll need you to take turns watching over our temporary abode. Any volunteers for first watch?"

"Yo," said Ruby still sitting by the fire, Zwei curled up by her feet.

That was good enough for Doctor Oobleck and he zipped away to find a place for himself to sleep. Ruby meanwhile looked for a place where she could post up for a few hours with Crescent Rose and Zwei.

"Hey," said Yang as she passed. "Did Oobleck ask you why you wanted to be a huntress? I mean, what did you tell him?"

"No, he didn't. Weird. Oh well. Good night, guys."

Yang seemed disappointed, she couldn't see what Oobleck's angle was. Neither could Weiss and Blake. It couldn't have been as simple as he was just curious. Was he trying to teach them something? Did he think that they had chosen the wrong career? A bit late for that advice. But if not, what was he after?

Other than Ruby, they were all uncomfortably silent as they rolled out their bedrolls and settled in for the night.

Ruby sat herself down on the remains of a window, leaning her back against the frame as Zwei hoped up onto the lap. In the distance, a pack of Beowolves could be heard howling, causing Zwei to whimper. Ruby stroked the Corgi's head reassuringly.

"Don't worry, everything will be better tomorrow."

* * *

 **Michael Galster**

"A Linwurm you say?"

"Yes, it took out the Chief's house where the civilians were being sheltered and the Opsrey hovering above it." He'd lost four men when it had crashed, he'd have sent men to retrieve the bodies, but the Grimm never left much behind anyway.

"A most regrettable ending to an otherwise successful mission." Ozpin lamented.

"All due credit to team CFVY, but I wouldn't call the mission a success, yes we eliminated the target, but we lost the village and sixty-percent of the inhabitants. I wouldn't call that successful."

"I suppose, your report seemed quite glowing of team CFVY's conduct and performance," Ozpin said, referring to the paperwork Michael had sent a day after they'd arrived aboard the _ANS Australia._ Velvet had been patched up in the ships medical ward along with some of the other villagers. They'd handled to outcome well and had insisted to stay with the villagers up until they'd reach Drachen, where the villagers would be resettled to a location of their choosing to start anew in a safer environment. It was why they'd only returned to Vale today rather than a week ago.

"You sound surprised."

"Given your history with huntsmen, I naturally assumed you would be… harsher… than others when it came to evaluation."

"Not unfounded I grant you but… I was sent her in part to get over my… misgivings with huntsmen. Team CFVY is part of a new generation of huntsmen so I presently have no reason to, 'dislike' shall we say, this particular generation of huntsmen. Now if it were a group of huntsmen who graduated in the last decade or so, you would have reason to be worried about my judgment."

"In other words, until this generation of Huntsmen gives you reason not to, you'll give them the benefit of the doubt."

"More or less."

"Good to see your not as… closed minded as some of my colleagues feared."

"Glynda?" Michael asked.

"Glynda." Ozpin confirmed, pouring himself another mug of coffee, "moving on to more pressing matters. I assume you are aware of the incident regarding the CCT tower."

"Only what rumours and hearsay have told me," Michael admitted.

"Then allow me to fill you in. On the night of the Vytal Ball. A masked woman, using dust infused clothes and glass for weapons, broke into the CCT tower. What she did in there before Miss Rose intervened, we don't know. There was an altercation between the two before the masked woman escaped. We currently have a team investigating a potential hideout in the southeast in Mountain Glenn where we believe the woman in question, or associates of hers at least are hiding out." Ozpin explained.

"This woman, is she working for the Queen?"

"I believe so,"

"So, she's making her opening moves," Michael deduced, "The CCT tower makes sense, it's the first thing I'd target if I wanted to bring down or take over a kingdom. It would paralyse communication between Vale and the rest of Remnant. You'd be cut off without SATCOM which only Drachen and Vacuo really use on a wide scale."

"Exactly, which is why it's important we find out what she did to the CCT tower and what is hiding in the Southeast," Ozpin confirmed.

"Who exactly did you send to scout out Mount Glenn?" Michael inquired, Huntsmen or better yet the Vale 24th Ranger Regiment.

"Team RWBY under the supervision of Doctor Obleck," Ozpin said without blinking an eye.

"You sent…. Children… and a single huntsman to investigate a potential enemy stronghold… alone and unsupported I might add… why!?"

"It would make fewer ripples if a huntsmen-in-training team was spotted than a group of fully fledge huntsmen or scouts from Atlas's or Vale's military."

"But still, it's wrong to send children to fight in a war they are not ready for." Michael further protested.

"Strange, I thought a man like you wouldn't object to such a plan," Ozpin spoke looking into his mug.

"I don't, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Zwei stirred and looked around, waking Ruby.

"Zwei, it's late. Go back to bed," she said with a yawn. Zwei apparently hadn't heard her as he rushed off.

Ruby got up reluctantly to follow Zwei, unnoticed by anyone else, and grabbed Crescent Rose before heading off after him. She found him just outside, urinating in some of the ruins.

"Zwei," she chided. "This is a wasteland. You literally could have done that anywhere."

Zwei barked at her when he was finished, when suddenly, Ruby heard someone say, "What was that?"

She grabbed Zwei and snuck around a corner of an old ruined building where she saw two members of the White Fang armed with guns.

"What was what?" said the second.

"I thought I heard a Beowolf or something."

The other growled. "Let's just finish our patrol and get back to base. This place gives me the creeps."

Ruby couldn't believe her eyes. The Fang had posted up in Mountain Glenn. But then, why hadn't they seen any signs of them during the day? This was great, all she had to do was follow them back to their base and tell everyone back at the campsite. They'd swoop in like awesome hunters and save the day. Ruby followed them around through the city as stealthily as she could. It was her hope that they would lead her to the entrance to their base. As they rounded a corner, Ruby halted when she saw that there was nothing in the next clearing to hide behind, so she stuck Zwei out like a doggy periscope.

When she heard a heavy metal door creak, she said to Zwei, "Did they go in, yet? One bark means yes."

Zwei barked.

Ruby dropped him. "This is it! This is it!" She pulled out her Scroll to dial her team, but Mountain Glenn had no reception. "Oh, man. Going to have to do this old-fashioned way."

She turned and headed back to camp with Zwei when suddenly the pavement beneath her feet sunk in. Several pieces of it broke and fell into a pit. Ruby was nearly swallowed up herself, but she managed to grab onto one of the still attached pieces of concrete. Zwei nearly followed her, but she managed to catch him by the collar. Ruby threw him unceremoniously back up onto the street safely, but as she pulled herself up, the concrete slabs gave way and she fell into the abyss. Ruby thought for certain that that would be the end of her, but almost immediately, she hit something hard and flat. She strained to get up from the mild impact she had sustained. But when she did, she noticed that she was actually standing on top of a ruined building that overlooked an immense underground city. What was this place?

Ruby wasn't able to wonder for long as two White Fang investigated the disturbance and ran out a door leading to the roof right behind her. "Freeze!"

"Where did she come from?" the other asked.

Ruby backed away to the edge of the sky-… groundscraper? Tower Block?

"You're a long way from home, little girl," said one of the Fang as they advanced on her.

Ruby went to grab Crescent Rose, but it wasn't there. Crescent Rose being lost when she fell down into the sinkhole. Suddenly, one of the Fang grabbed her by the arm. "Hey! Hands off!" She ripped her arm from his grip, and then planted a punch in his chest.

The Fang barely reacted, caught her next punch, and then landed a right hook across her temple, knocking her unconscious.

* * *

Ruby regained consciousness shortly after. She was being dragged by the arms by two Fang through an encampment of sorts. All around her, she saw White Fang performing odd tasks. Some were directing others as they used Atlesian paladins to lift and load loading containers onto flat train cars. Some were loading complex devices with wires of all sorts into boxcars. One Fang scorned his underling. "Hey! Be careful! Are you trying to blow us to the moon?"

"Sorry, sir."

The two Fang dragging Ruby stopped somewhere along an immense freight train. One with a pair of glasses over his mask shouted, "Hey, boss! Found something you might want to see."

"It is good or bad, Perry? Because let me tell you, I have had a day."

Ruby recognized that voice.

"Uh…" stalled Perry, "it's a little girl."

Roman Torchwick stuck his head out of a boxcar. "That would be bad," he said, throwing his cigar down.

* * *

 **Yang Xiao Long**

Back on the surface at camp, Yang stretched. She was ready to go back to bed. "Hey, Weiss. It's your wa—Ruby? Hey! Where's Ruby?"

"What?" Blake groggily said, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Ruby's missing!"

"She's missing?!"

This woke up Weiss and Professor Oobleck. "What happened?" he asked no less energetic than before he had gone to sleep. Suddenly Zwei ran in straight to Yang, panting heavily. He whined at her feet and prodded her leg with his nose.

"What's going on?" asked Weiss.

"Grab your weapons," advised Oobleck. "Your leader may be in trouble."

They did so and followed Zwei a couple blocks, back to the sinkhole Ruby had fallen down. They found her scythe lying alone in the street.

"Ruby's scythe!" Yang called out.

"Oh no," Blake said worriedly.

"Do you think she fell?" asked Weiss.

"Fell?!" said Professor Oobleck.

"Down there."

Oobleck looked down. "Oh, my." He then seemed to have a revelation. "Yes… Of course, of course, of course!"

"What is it?!" said Blake.

"How could I be so stupid?!"

"Doctor Oobleck?! What's wrong?" asked Yang.

"Mountain Glenn!" he said suddenly. "Yes. An expansion of Vale that was inevitably destroyed by creatures of Grimm. Previously home to thousands of people—working people commuting to the main city developed a subway system to the inner city. Grimm attacks increase! Population in danger, now desperately searching for shelter. The city evacuates into metro tunnels and what do they find?! The southeast quadrant of Vale is known for wild forests and deep caves!"

"Doc! What are you saying?"

"My dear; we're not just searching for an underground crime network, but an underground crime network!"

"They've been working in caves?" concluded Blake.

"No, no. Mountain Glenn was the first serious attempt at expansion. It worked for a short period of time thanks to an impressive perimeter defence and unique transportation. The city developed an elaborate subway system to carry citizens safely from the new territory to the main kingdom. Sadly, without the many natural barriers that Vale had as its borders, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start. As the end drew near, the citizens made one last attempt at survival. They took up shelter beneath the city in massive caves that they had cleared out for the subway, and they cut themselves off from the surface."

"An… an underground village?!" said Yang incredulously.

"In a matter of speaking, yes. A safe haven. Until… an explosion opened the mouth of another cavern filled with subterranean Grimm. After that, the kingdom officially sealed off the tunnels thereby creating the world's largest tomb. If Ruby is down there, then we must find her," said Oobleck. He took out his thermos and a long pole extended from the bottom as a nipple extended upward and a flame ignited at the top.

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Ruby was hit hard enough by Roman's cane that she slid when she hit the ground. Her face already bore a bruise and her ribs were sore. She looked up at Torchwick as he chuckled.

"Wow. You are much more manageable without that oversized gardening tool of yours."

Ruby felt anger, of course he would talk down to her as he beat a minor who couldn't fight back. She charged, but Torchwick stepped to the side and tripped her with his cane.

He wiped a fake tear from his eye. "You know, Perry? I really did need this." Then he knelt down and pushed the end of his cane under Ruby's chin. "But seriously, how'd you find this place, Red?"

Ruby growled. If she couldn't fight Torchwick, she'd have to run. She utilized her Semblance and dashed around him. He was surprised at first, but then he aimed his cane, crook first, at her. It fired forward and snagged Ruby by the shoulder, hooking around her left shoulder. It reeled her back.

"I see you've got some tricks up your sleeve. Let me make this clear: we're not through here yet."

Suddenly, the whole cavern shook, and a cloud of dust was thrown up around one of their entrances.

"Oh! What the—?! Perry, if you and the boys could take care of that… Kind of in the middle of something."

Perry bowed and started in that direction until the cavern shook again. The White Fang present in the cave immediately stopped what they were doing to look at the area where the sound and shaking was originating from.

Torchwick bellowed, "What is going on here?!"

Suddenly there was an explosion from the entrance. White Fang members retreated, screaming and firing into the dust. A big ball of fire knocked the most stubborn ones to the ground as the rest ran away. Ruby looked on, hoping. Her prayers were answered when Oobleck, the girls, and Zwei rounded the corner. She acted fast, jumping onto Torchwick's shoulders, pulled his hat below his eyes, and rolled off.

"Somebody kill her!" ordered Torchwick as Ruby ran. He raised his cane and his own shots joined the volley of pistol fire. But Ruby managed to dodge every shot. Torchwick flexed his cane out of anger. He turned to the nearest Fang. "Attach this car and spread the word. We're starting the train." Ruby heard Torchwick order from behind her.

"But we're not finished."

Torchwick shoved the end of his cane into the Fang's neck. "Do it, or you're finished!"

Ruby was almost to her team when four Fang members leapt out of cover with guns drawn. She skidded to a stop. But a huge ball of flame laid waste to them. Yang held out her arms. "Ruby!"

This was one hug Ruby gladly accepted.

"Are you okay?" asked Weiss.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" she said. "But listen, Torchwick's got all sorts of robots and weapons down there."

"What?" said Blake, handing Ruby Crescent Rose. She clutched the weapon close to her, she realised how defenceless she felt and was without it.

"They're all loaded up on the train cars."

"Eh, that's ridiculous," said Doctor Oobleck. "These tunnels are sealed. The tracks lead to a dead end."

Suddenly, Torchwick's voice came on over a loudspeaker. _"Get to your places! We're leaving now!"_

Steam shot out of the engine, the driving wheels spun until they gained traction, and the whistle sounded as the train began moving forward.

"Well, it sounds like they're going somewhere!" said Yang.

"We need backup," said Ruby. "Let me call Jaune." But her Scroll couldn't dial out. It was too far outside the Kingdom and too far underground, "I can't get through!"

"So what do we do?" asked Weiss.

"I believe we only have one option," said Oobleck.

Ruby turned as her scythe extended. "We're stopping that train."

The Group took off after the slow moving train, the engine struggling to pick up speed pulling the laden wagons. Before the train could make any headway out of Mountain Glenn, they managed to land on the caboose. Ruby was the first on followed by Weiss, Blake and Yang. Oobleck was the last onboard, Zwei coddled in his arms. Their noisy arrival alerted the nearest Fang. He lifted his radio. "I think they're on the—ugh!"

* * *

But it was too late. The message had gotten out and was being passed up the cars. A White Fang member made it to the engine room. "Boss! They made it on the train!"

Torchwick growled. At least the Marines were competent enough to get a job done, even the hired goons from Junior seemed better right now. This was what he got for working with Terrorists, "Then grab some cargo and get them off the train! Man, friggin' animals. Every one of them."

The Fang driver looked at Torchwick.

"Uh… but not you, though. You're great." At least Neo was on the train with him, she could be trusted to not fuck up.

* * *

Back at the caboose, Oobleck said, "Hurry, children. We must get to the front and stop this train."

Weiss opened up the top hatch on the boxcar. "Uh, Professor?"

"Doctor." Oobleck seemed to instantly correct.

She pointed at a strange device with a lot of wires and what looked like a timer on its front. "What's that?"

"That, my dear, appears to be a bomb," Oobleck said calmly. All of RWBY recoiled.

Suddenly, Ruby looked up. She saw a few dozen lightly armed White Fang grunts clamber out of the train cars, "We've got baddies!"

White Fang by the dozens crept up to the top of the train and started advancing. Her team and her readied their weapons while the Doctor kept his attention on the bomb below them.

"Well," began Oobleck, "I didn't expect them to—" The bomb came alive. "Go easy on us. Time to go! Blake! Detach the caboose. It will kill us all."

"On it." As her team jumped to the next car, Blake dropped down to the couplers. As she drew her sword back, the caboose came uncoupled. "Huh? It decoupled itself!" she yelled up to Oobleck.

"What?"

"I guess he really doesn't want us on this train," said Yang.

The caboose slowed and trailed behind. Finally, it exploded.

"That's not good," said Oobleck.

"Neither is this!" said Ruby as she and Weiss opened another hatch.

"Another bomb?!" said Blake.

Oobleck looked back to the exploded caboose and ran to the next car. "No, no, no," he told himself. He opened the hatch. "They all have bombs!"

The car that RWBY was on decoupled and the bomb came alive. Realising the situation they were in, the group dashed to make the jump in time. They barely made it to the next one as the gap widened.

"This doesn't make sense!" said Yang.

But soon, RWBY had another problem. The White Fang had closed the gap considerably and were right on top of them. One, a female with deer antlers, said, "Get the humans!"

Team RWBY took up positions. One Faunus challenged Yang, but she kicked his leg back, swept his other out from him, and with a playful wink, blasted him down through a hatch. Blake was next and she took no issue in beating back what would have been her comrades under a different scenario, she used her semblance to dance and weave between the ranks while Gambol Shroud slashed at the White Fang. Weiss followed her example and dashed down the line of Fang leaving a trail of ice in her wake that froze them in place. Ruby cocked Crescent Rose and shot through next. Her scythe shaved and carved the ice to bits simultaneously carving the White Fang. They landed in a heap behind her. Oobleck looked back at the last car. It detonated and blew a hole through the top of the tunnel. Down through the hole fell Creepers, Death Stalkers, Beowolves, and a giant King Taijitu. Sensing the hate and fear aboard the train, they followed it, looking for their next meal.

"Oh, dear…" said Oobleck. He turned to RWBY. "He's leading Grimm to the city!"

"What?!" said Weiss.

"It's the cars! They detach and explode, creating openings for the Grimm."

"That's insane!" said Blake as another car detached.

"We have to hurry!" said Oobleck. "You three! Go below and try to stop those bombs!"

"What about us?" asked Ruby.

"We're going to stop this train!"

"Yeah, I know. I said that earlier." Ruby deadpanned.

"Oh. That's right."

Back at the front of the train where the paladins were kept, a couple of Fang jumped into them, hoping to even the odds. One of them charged straight for Oobleck, Ruby, and Zwei with reckless abandon.

"We've got a problem," said Oobleck. He took a swig from his thermos and felt energized, transforming it into his flamethrower mace.

Zwei barked consent and jumped into the air as Oobleck swung. Breaking the limits of his aura and abilities, Ruby watched as Zwei learned a new trick called the Zwei Cannonball. He careened towards the paladin and hit it full force, knocking it from the train. As Zwei watched the paladin fall, a second came up from behind him. But it was then suddenly engulfed in a dozen fireballs. Oobleck leapt at the mech and lashed out with his mace, successfully knocking it off as well.

* * *

 **Neopolitan**

Three girls dropped down into a cargo hold, looking for any more hostiles to deal with. "I guess this is what we train for," quipped the bust blonde one.

"Here," said the Schnee heiress to the Faunus. "This should help you."

The Faunus took a magazine loaded with multiple Dust variants from the Schnee girl and loaded it into her weapon. The girls advanced, that's when Neo decided to reveal herself, dropping down in front of the trio. She beat her lashes, her eyes changing colour and gave them a sassy hip wiggle.

"You two go on ahead," said the Blonde, her voice oozing contempt. "This one's mine."

The two other girls advanced as Neo prepared for them, but then a shot from Blondie forced her to dodge backward which allowed the others to run past. That was fine. If the busty bimbo wanted to die alone, then she would oblige. She straightened up as Blondie walked right up to her. Neo barely looked over her bust. But she merely blinked, her eyes changing colour again. Blondie grimaced before throwing a fierce punch, but a Neo delivered a sudden hit to Blondie's gut, knocking her back. The Blonde looked at Neo who had her parasol pointed in her direction. Blondie hadn't seen the attack coming, likely realising that Neo could produce illusions.

Blondie charged and unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, all of which Neo dodged. Eventually, she took down her parasol, blocked a couple of Blondie's hits before spinning and knocking the girl to the ground with a fluid and steady kick. Neo did a flip and tried to plant her shin into Blondie, but she rolled away before leaping at Neo again.

Blondie punched, but Neo merely locked her arm and did a side kick which threw her backward. Neo flipped to the other side of the huntress-in-training and started attacking. The girl tried to fight back, punching and shooting as much as she could, but Neo's parasol deflected the Dust rounds and she was able to dodge or block any attacks. The blonde girl was now getting angry and threw a vicious punch. Neo flipped backward and sat down on a crate, opening her parasol, and propping it against her shoulder. She smiled. Roman's combat lessons really paid off.

The Huntress walked right up to the girl and went to hit her, but Neo swung her parasol in front of her before performing a series of complicated flips and turns that put the blonde back on the defensive. She fired a shot at Neo who blocked it with her parasol, and then they went hit for hit in a vicious exchange. Neo went to kick the girl, but she caught her foot, turned and tried to throw her down the car.

Neo merely flipped and landed on her feet. She charged, grabbed the girl's arm, flipped around it, and in a complicated twisting motion managed to throw the girl into the boxcar's ceiling before she landed on the floor and was knocked out.

Neo simpered as she drew a sword from her parasol. She smiled as she aimed to do the huntress in, when suddenly a red flash caught her attention. Something fell from a red portal and swung a giant sword at the girl. She quickly retreated and was shocked by the woman standing before her. She wore a red and black uwagi with a red obi tied around it and a black skirt. She had spiky, long black hair, and carried a revolving sheath full of Dust blades for an odachi. But the most unsettling thing about her was that she wore what looked like a Grimm's skull for a helmet.

The woman looked down at the blonde girl before looking back at Neo. Her sheath rotated and stopped with a snap. The woman drew out a long, red blade that doubled in size once it was clear of the sheath.

Neo had no idea what she was looking at, but she knew she was in over her head. She flourished her parasol and seemingly disappeared in a flash of light. While actually hiding just out of sight, curious as to what the newcomer would do. The woman gave one last look at blonde on the floor before slashing at the air. A circular, red portal with a black centre opened, and the woman walked toward it.

The unconscious huntress stirred on the floor and opened her eyes just in time to see the woman sheath her sword and disappear into the portal. "Mom…?" That strange woman was this girl's mother? The huntress looked around for Neo and believed she was gone. Quickly exiting the car link up with the rest of her team. Now safe, Neo emerged from her cover, looking at where the mysterious woman had appeared from the red portal. Maybe Michael could tell her more about this woman, he did owe a few favours to Roman and her.

* * *

 **Weiss Schnee**

Weiss and Blake continued on as the sound of a chainsaw reached their ears. Blake went to warn Weiss, but Weiss said, "You go on ahead."

Blake exhaled. "Got it."

The Lieutenant advanced with a slow walk and swung his chainsword. Weiss jumped back while Blake deflected the massive weapon. Blake ran on while Weiss kicked the Lieutenant in the face. She landed just in time to parry several wild swings. Weiss delivered an upwards slash that knocked the Lieutenant to the ground.

The Lieutenant stood up slowly, laughing. "Finally, I get to kill a Schnee."

Weiss pointed Myrtenaster at him and rotated her dust cylinders. The Lieutenant charged and swung his chainsword. Weiss swung her sword in a circle and created a shield made from energy Dust that blocked his attack. She pushed forward, breaking the shield and knocking the Lieutenant back. He tried to hit her again, but Weiss parried and then spun and landed a hit on his elbow.

The Lieutenant staggered and Weiss jumped, managing to land another hit on his head. He swung his chainsword viciously, but Weiss backflipped under it and landed three more cuts in quick succession. Despite the Lieutenant's immense size and strength, Weiss was quick and nimble, managing to dodge his attacks and hit him back while he stumbled around. With a savage thrust, she managed to throw the Lieutenant back a ways before casting a time dilation glyph on herself.

Weiss surged forward and summoned a half dozen different glyphs around the Lieutenant. She dashed to one striking the Lieutenant before being launched from the glyph to another and striking him again. With each glyph, she knocked him higher into the air before knocking him back down to the floor. She produced another glyph and propelled herself straight at him narrowly missing a coup-de-grace.

Weiss jumped in the air ready to finish it when the Lieutenant said, "Come here, princess." He grabbed her out of the air and slammed her into the floor. It was more than enough to knock Weiss senseless as the Lieutenant then threw her up and brought his chainsword around.

* * *

 **Blake Belladonna**

Blake made it to the car right before the engine, and in her way, stood Roman Torchwick. "Hello, kitty cat!" he said, swinging his cane around. "You miss me? You know, we really oughta stop meeting like this. People are going to talk."

Blake finally got what she had wanted since the docks—a chance to settle the score with Roman Torchwick. She was going to make him pay.

Blake charged and just as Torchwick went to swing his cane, she activated her Semblance and pulled the trigger on Gambol Shroud, creating a shadow clone out of pure fire. When the clone dissipated, it exploded and threw Torchwick into the air. Blake jumped after him and landed several vicious blows before knocking him back to the ground. As she landed, she flourished Gambol Shroud and drew the sword from its sheath.

Torchwick quickly stood and fired at her. Blake jumped back as a petrified clone took the hit for her. She ran and jumped at Torchwick. He swung his cane, but she had predicted this and left a clone in her place to take the hit while she grounded herself and attacked from a different angle.

She and Torchwick went hit for a hit against each other with neither gaining. Torchwick went to hit her with a savage strike, but she dodged back, leaving behind an ice clone that froze Torchwick's cane in place.

Blake sheathed her sword and with a giant overhead swing, she unleashed an energy wave that destroyed the clone and threw Torchwick into the back of the train car. He flopped onto the ground, losing his cane. As he went to get up, Blake kicked him in the chest and pinned him to the ground. She placed the tip of her sword under his chin.

Torchwick held his arms out, laughing. "Why are we fighting? I saw you at the rally. We're on the same side, and you know it!"

Blake prodded his adam's apple with her sword.

"Oh, still feisty. So, what are we going to do, now? Do you really think a little bow on top is going to make people forget what you were? What you've done?"

Blake didn't care what people thought about her right now. She had Torchwick at her mercy. All she had to do was plunge the tip of her sword into his throat and he'd be dead.

She tensed up, knowing what she wanted to do, but found herself unable to do it. She didn't care what other people thought, but what about her team? They flashed through her head—what would they think of her if she just killed him here and now? Ruby? Weiss? Yang? Would they be disappointed?

Suddenly, the door behind Blake opened and Weiss' body tumbled through it. Following her was the Lieutenant, laughing.

"So, what's it going to be, Blake?" taunted Torchwick.

Blake sheathed her sword and delivered a kick straight to Torchwick's temple, knocking him out and sending his hat flying. She rushed to Weiss' side and found her breathing, but unconscious.

"Blake Belladonna," said the Lieutenant. He laughed. "Come back to rejoin our ranks. He's been missing you. Or have you betrayed us for the Schnee scum?"

The Lieutenant raised his chainsword and brought it down, but Blake grabbed Weiss and dodged to the far end of the train car. She laid Weiss down before drawing Gambol Shroud.

"Going to fight me? Hmm?" The Lieutenant laughed. "Now, that would be interesting."

Blake hesitated. She knew what sort of punishment the Lieutenant could take. He was like a tank. He could take all the abuse anyone could throw at him and keep going. That's what made him so dangerous. If only Yang were here—she'd be able to take him on and dish it all back out twice as hard.

The Lieutenant laughed again as he ran at Blake and swung his chainsword. Blake tensed up, ready to parry, when suddenly, there was a battle cry followed by a shot and an explosion. The Lieutenant was launched forward over Blake and Weiss and into the car's wall. He didn't get up. Blake looked. "Yang!"

Yang blinked her eyes, going from red to violet. "That was close."

"How did you do that? You took him out in one hit?"

Yang looked ashamed. "I didn't do very well in my fight against the tri-coloured bitch. I still had all the energy left over from that fight. Plus, I just really wanted to hit somebody."

Blake laughed relief.

Suddenly, Weiss moaned. They knelt at her side.

"Weiss!"

"Are you alright?"

She looked at them. "I don't think I'll be sleeping on my back for a while."

The other two giggled. They didn't know what she meant, but it was still funny to hear.

"C'mon," said Yang. "Ruby and Oobleck haven't found a way to stop the train, yet. And there's no one in our way now."

They rushed to the engine room and started looking at the train's controls. "Is this the brake?" asked Weiss, pointing to a lever.

"No," said Blake. "It's this—" But then, she gasped.

"What is it?" asked Yang.

"It's broken! There's no way to stop the train now!"

"What?!"

* * *

 **Ruby Rose**

Atop the train, Oobleck and Ruby were still battling a paladin. Oobleck dodged a savage swing and zoomed up to the top of it. He landed a hit to the cockpit and backflipped off. He and Ruby flourished their weapons and shot at its feet, launching it from the train.

Ruby ran forward while Oobleck ran back. Ruby looked at him confused, until she saw a pair of paladins coming from the rear.

"Ruby! You go on ahead."

"But—!"

"Don't worry, Ruby. It's time I teach them a lesson." Oobleck then ran to meet them.

Ruby turned to head to the engine when a whimpering caught her attention. Zwei looked sad. "Go on," she said with a smile.

Zwei gave her a doggy smile and barked. He ran after Oobleck.

Ruby ran to the front of the train in time to see the rest of her team climb on top of it. "What're you guys doing here?"

"There's no way to stop the train!" explained Yang.

"What?!"

"Guys…" warned Blake.

They looked ahead and saw the end of the tunnel as the tracks stopped right before a solid steel wall.

Ruby looked at Weiss who nodded. Weiss spun and stabbed Myrtenaster into the train car, creating a cocoon of ice that totally enveloped the girls. A few seconds later, the train crashed into the steel shutter, burst through it, and the ice cocoon was shattered.

Ruby's head and entire body hurt. She opened her eyes to see a plaza in downtown Vale. People were milling around, shocked at the accident that just occurred. Somewhere, an extremely loud siren was going off. Yang was coughing and spluttering while Blake was clutching her head, acting a tad disorientated. Weiss gave her a thumbs up from her propped-up position against a slab of debris. In the distance, she could hear what she believed to be sirens.

Then things went from bad to worse as a King Taijitu burst from the wreckage along with several other different kinds of Grimm. The people in the plaza screamed and fled as Beowolves, Ursae, and Creepers began to chase them down.

* * *

 **Omake [Non-Canon]**

 **The Limited**

Michael hadn't thought much of the request Ozpin had asked of him. Tagging along with team RWBY on a Search and Destroy mission to the fallen city of Mount Glenn. Sure, he had Oobleck for conversation, a man who shared his passion for history, but that still didn't make up for the fact that he was babysitting team RWBY. But that didn't matter now. Because he was about to live out a childhood fantasy from when he watched spy films as a child back on Earth. The roof-top train fight. Right now, team RWBY and Oobleck were standing down on the caboose, waiting for him to give the all clear so they could all climb on top.

"Om my god, this is going to aweshiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" He yelled, his arm being blown back and losing grip of the pistol he had in hand. His left hand still clasped onto the top handlebar of the train car as he rubbed the dust out of his eyes.

"Are you okay Professor!" Ruby cried out in concern while also wondering why his aura didn't protect him from the dust particles.

"Ow! That dust. It's like being shot in the eyes by a… glitter gun." Michael said, getting the last specs of dust out of his eyes. He summoned some ballistic goggles which he placed over his eyes for protection.

"There. That ought to do it." He announced to himself, team RWBY looking relieved that it wasn't something serious, "Okay, let's try that agai-aahhh shiiit!" He yelled ducking down to avoid the low hanging ceiling and losing his head.

"All I want is to fight on the top of a train!" He lamented, unaware of the looks he was garnering from the huntresses-in-training, "Is that too much to ask."

"The good news is now I'm furious," Michael said mumbling to himself all to calmly as he stood atop the train car's roof. Team RWBY and Oobleck quickly joining him.

"So, rethinking this. On top of the train, you're still like… on the train. Plus, you got all the- OH SHIT!" Michael muttered under his breath before exclaiming and going prone to avoid another low tunnel, followed quickly by the rest of the group, "Plus, you got all that."

"Why do people do this! You're still just on the train." Asked Ruby.

"I know right. Although I guess sometimes there's a Bullhead." Stated Yang.

"Do we have a Bullhead?" Asked Weiss.

"Mmmn… nope." Michael said, summoning another weapon, "So we all agree, next time we stay inside the train and don't climb onto the roof." Before anyone could respond, Oobleck interrupted.

"Enough dillydally," ordered Oobleck, "we need to stop this train."

* * *

 **A/N:** **Author: *peers at last updated, notices he has the upload frequency of Jontron. Puts on best professor Farnsworth voice* Good news everyone, here's the new chapter since... February... which is only like... four months... The better news is that Chapter 9 is almost done anyway and should be out soon... probably. Defiantly not as long as the wait for this one.**


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